| | Associated Press
MONTREAL -- Serena Williams set up a title match with
top-ranked Martina Hingis in the du Maurier Open, beating Arantxa
Sanchez-Vicario 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.
Hingis, the defending du Maurier champion, defeated Conchita
Martinez of Spain 6-3, 6-2. Hingis is seeking her fifth tournament
victory this year, but has only won three times in seven matches
against Williams.
|  | | Serena Williams has won the last three meetings against world No. 1 Martina Hingis. |
"My advantage is that I'm quicker," Hingis said. "I don't
carry that much muscle and weight around. But I have to be the
first to attack, not her."
The hard-serving Williams has won the last three meetings,
including a three-set victory last week in the semifinals at Los
Angeles.
Serena and her sister Venus have won four consecutive
tournaments and have not lost to anyone except one another in 29
straight matches. Venus did not play in the du Maurier.
"You always want to play the best and they are playing really
well now," said Hingis, who said before Williams played that she
hoped to play Serena in the final.
"You want to see how you're doing, whether I've improved from
last week and how it will be at the U.S. Open," Hingis said of the
upcoming tournament at New York. "I think it was quite close last
week, but maybe I didn't believe it enough to beat her."
Williams, addressing the crowd in French, said she was "very
happy.
"It's the first time I've played in Montreal, so I'm very
excited."
An hour after her singles match, Hingis teamed with Nathalie
Tauziat of France to beat Kimberly Po of the United States and
Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France 6-1, 6-3 in a doubles semifinal.
"It feels good, just like the old days," said Hingis, who won
the du Maurier doubles title in 1998 with former partner Jana
Novotna.
In singles, Martinez went up 3-1 in the first set before Hingis
started hitting the lines with her shots and won the next seven
games.
"It felt like everything changed after I went up 3-1," said
Martinez, ranked No. 6. "I was playing well and it looked like she
didn't have patience.
"But then, all of a sudden, I started missing and then the
patience changed around. It was tough."
Hingis improved to 9-3 against Martinez and avenged a loss from
their last meeting in the semifinals of the German Open.
"When I lost to her last time I was too passive," Hingis said.
"Today, I rushed too much at the beginning, I wanted to get it
over, and after a while, I figured out that I had to be patient."
Sanchez reached the du Maurier final the last four times it was
held in Montreal, winning in 1992 and 1994 and losing to Monica
Seles in 1996 and 1998.
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ALSO SEE
Saturday's results
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