A Classic Final: Seles vs. Hingis

CARLSBAD — If the fast-rising Martina Hingis were to glance behind her, she’d see Monica Seles gaining on her, even as the rest of the WTA Tour recedes from view.

The two are ranked No. 1 and No. 3, respectively, and in the gulf between them lie all of Hingis’ titles, her Grand Slam tournament baubles, and her near-perfect season.

That, combined with the Swiss teenager’s remarkable talent, intimidates most opponents before they take the court against her. But not Seles. Not only has she won more titles than the 16-year-old, each time they meet she’s getting closer and closer to beating Hingis.

Seles’ progress can be measured today, as Hingis and Seles meet in the finals of the Toshiba Tennis Classic, at 1 p.m. at the La Costa Resort.

“I don’t look forward to playing her again,” Hingis said of Seles. “I’ve played her so many times in so many tournaments. She’s difficult to beat.”

Difficult, but not impossible: Hingis has never lost to Seles, although the victories are requiring greater effort.

In Saturday’s semifinals, the top-seeded Hingis defeated sixth-seeded Mary Pierce, 6-0, 6-2, in the day match and the second-seeded Seles defeated third-seeded Amanda Coetzer, 6-3, 6-4, in the night match.

Today’s final will be the fourth meeting between Hingis and Seles since March, and all the matches have been memorable. Hingis rolled over Seles in the finals at Lipton, then won in the finals the next week at Hilton Head, eking out the match, 7-6, in the third.

With that match, Seles seemed to solve Hingis. They met in the semifinals of the French Open, and, again, it was a tight match. Hingis won, 6-7, 7-5, 6-4, and acknowledged her luck in getting past Seles, who is a three-time French Open champion.

For her part, Seles understands she must harness her game and achieve a level of consistency that has been unmatched this year.

Saturday night’s match exemplified that. Both players were hitting deep, powerful shots, but Seles seemed to wander at times.

“I still feel I’m in and out,” Seles said. “I play great for two games and I go to sleep for a couple of games. Also, I need to cut down my unforced errors. That will be the key [today].”

It’s a pressing issue at the moment, as Seles continues to work toward consistency. Once again she won, but committed a large number of unforced errors. She had 32 in the quarterfinal and 25 Saturday night.

That fading in and out of the match put her in a precarious position against Coetzer in the second set. Coetzer broke to go up 3-1, and was visibly gaining confidence. If Seles failed to respond, the set would be lost.

“When I got down to 3-1, I thought I better wake up and start attacking again, because I was not going to beat Amanda at her own game,” Seles said.

That took the form of a break of Coetzer’s serve in the next game, then holding at 3-3. Coetzer held then slumped in the next game.

“She lifted her game when she needed to,” Coetzer said. “My intensity dropped a little. I was up 4-3--a pretty crucial game. I hit four returns pretty short. The margin was pretty close.”

Seles broke in the next game and held her serve at love to win the match in 74 minutes.

Pierce was nothing like she had been in Friday night’s overpowering quarterfinal victory. In Saturday’s match, she was listless and mistake-prone. Her frustration at her inability to crack Hingis’ veneer sent Pierce back to her old habits: When in trouble or doubt, hit the ball harder.

“She’s like a shooting gun,” Hingis said. “Either she hits the ball so hard you cannot get it, or she’s making mistakes.”

That, and too much of Hingis. The diminutive teenager was startlingly efficient on her serve, losing only one point on serve in the entire first set, which took only 19 minutes.

Hingis was delighted to have set a personal record for service speed, a 106-mph ace.

Meanwhile, Pierce was unable to hold serve at all in the first set and only twice on the match.