AUSTRALIAN OPEN : HINGIS, PIERCE IN FINAL; MOYA BOOTS CHANG.

Byline: Steve Wilstein Associated Press 

Named for a champion and reared since birth to become one, Martina Hingis capered Thursday into the final of the Australian Open and a confrontation with 1995 champ Mary Pierce.

The 16-year-old Hingis, seeking to become the youngest Grand Slam champion this century, kept her string of straight-set victories going with a 6-1, 6-3 victory against two-time Australian Open finalist Mary Joe Fernandez.

Unseeded Carlos Moya thrashed Michael Chang to reach the men's final in a stunning odyssey that began with a first-round knockout of defending champion Boris Becker.

Moya, seeking to become the first Spaniard to win the Australian Open, outplayed the No. 2 Chang from the baseline and the net in a 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 victory that showed off all his talent and touch.

The 20-year-old Moya, whose flair on the court and long-haired good looks have made him one of the most popular players with fans, will play for the title Sunday against the winner of Friday's Pete Sampras-Thomas Muster semifinal.

``I don't think anybody really expected him to get to the final,'' Chang said of Moya. ``He played some great tennis, using backhands down the line and his forehand was on. I wasn't aggressive enough. When you play Carlos, you've got to take it to him.''

Moya, who never got past the second round on his first circuit of Grand Slam tournaments last year, has been on a brilliant run since arriving in Australia. He reached the final of the Sydney International and has been building confidence with each match.

``I was a little bit nervous at the beginning, but I think (Chang) was more nervous because he kept making mistakes,'' Moya said. ``I'm playing better and better. Today I think I played my best match. One of the keys was I didn't think about this as a Grand Slam semifinal. I just kept fighting and fighting.''

Hingis, who hasn't dropped a set in the tournament, produced perhaps her finest performance against Fernandez and assured herself of moving up in the rankings from No. 4 to No. 2 behind Steffi Graf.

``I played almost perfect tennis,'' said Hingis, named after Martina Navratilova and now in her first Grand Slam final. ``I was nervous a few days ago when I saw all the upsets. Today I felt very loose. I wasn't nervous at all.''

Hingis credited her ease on court and the sharpness of her game to Magic Girl, the horse that threw her on a jump a couple of days ago.

``It was magic for me,'' Hingis said. ``If I win this tournament, I'm going to buy that horse. Since that day I fell off, I haven't made a mistake.''

Pierce's journey back from apathy to rapture on the tennis court carried her into the final as she bids to become the first unseeded Grand Slam women's champion in two decades.

No unseeded woman has won the Australian Open, or any Grand Slam event, since Chris O'Neil in 1978.