Testud tests Davenport before No 1 ascendancy

She advanced to a final showdown with top seed and world number one Martina Hingis, who crushed Monica Seles 6-0 6-0 — the worst loss of the nine-time Grand Slam champion’s career.

But the matter of who will top the WTA Tour rankings next week will already be settled when Hingis and Davenport meet. By reaching the final, Davenport insured she will regain the number one ranking she lost to the 19-year-old Swiss on August 9.

The men’s semi-final line-up was also drawn. Second seed Pete Sampras advanced to his sixth semi-final here in eight years, stopping ninth-seeded Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-4 7-6 (7-3).

Sampras will face Aussie teenager Lleyton Hewitt, the 14th seed at the $5.725 million event, who beat unseeded American Jan-Michael Gambill 6-4 7-6 (7-3). Hewitt, 19, took his 2000 record to 25-2, the best start on the ATP Tour since Andre Agassi started 25-2 in 1995.

The afternoon was a nightmare for Seles, still feeling the effects of a twisted ankle that hindered her lateral movement. For the first time in 535 career matches, Seles failed to win a game.

The former world number one exited to boos after double faulting the final point. Her worst prior loss was 6-0 6-1 to Steffi Graf in the 1989 Wimbledon round of 16. “I definitely feel very disappointed,” Seles said. “It’s the semi-finals. I really expected a lot more of myself than what I showed.”

Hingis said: “I heard two days ago she started saying her foot wasn’t OK. Well, I’m sure somebody else in her place wouldn’t even have stepped on the court. After the first set, I almost felt like she was going to retire. Then she just kept on playing.”

Davenport met little resistance from Testud early, taking a 6-1 2-0 lead. “Until then, I couldn’t play,” said Testud, one of the few WTA Tour players who doesn’t seem intimidated by Davenport. “That’s when the match really started.”

She overcame her second-set deficit to force the tie-breaker. Twice in the third the French player went up a break, and twice Davenport got the break back to force the tie-breaker.

Despite Davenport’s difficulties against Testud, she will start as the firm favourite against Hingis. She has won 11 of their 18 encounters, including the last five. Her last three victories over the Swiss player have proved Davenport’s ability to rise to the big occasion, the WTA Masters in November, the Australian Open final in January, and the final of the Tennis Masters Series event at Indian Wells earlier this month.