NO. 1 VS. NO. 2 AT ACURA; IN FINAL, HINGIS FACES DAVENPORT.

Byline: Joe Stevens Long Beach Press-Telegram 

Lindsay Davenport may be from nearby Newport Beach and may be the hottest player in women's tennis, but that didn't persuade the crowd in Manhattan Beach to favor her.

Heck, Davenport probably wouldn't have cheered herself, either.

``I understand,'' Davenport said of the crowd's affinity for sentimental favorite Monica Seles. ``Whenever I watch Monica, I cheer for her, too.''

Ultimately, the lack of support Saturday night did not aversely affect Davenport, as she required only one hour to beat Seles 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Acura Classic at Manhattan Country Club.

The second-seeded Davenport will meet top-seeded Martina Hingis in the final today at 11:45 a.m. It will be their third meeting this year (they have split the other two). Hingis holds a 6-4 career advantage.

``Martina is not going to give Lindsay the unforced errors that I gave her,'' Seles said. ``They're ranked 1 (Hingis) and 2 (Davenport), so it should be pretty even.''

Though Davenport is a distant second, she has been dominant lately, winning the past two Corel WTA events and 11 straight matches.

``It's going to take a lot to beat her,'' Davenport said of Hingis. ``Martina is going to want to win and win badly, send a message.''

Seles sent a message to Davenport when she opened the match by taking a 3-0 lead. Davenport settled down, however, and allowed Seles just three more games in the match.

The key? Davenport had 14 unforced errors to Seles' 34. ``I just started making errors out of the blue,'' Seles said.

Davenport concurred, saying, ``She was missing a lot of balls. I didn't do anything spectacular to win.''

Seles would have liked to put forth a better effort in front of a crowd that was so partial to her. ``They've been so nice to me here,'' Seles said of the fans, ``so it's so frustrating because of how I played.''

The pairing was a rematch of last year's Acura Classic final, in which Seles won 5-7, 7-5, 6-4. Saturday night's match, however, did not have nearly as much drama.

``It probably wasn't as good as last year's final,'' Davenport said. ``I don't think Monica was at her best, but I'll take a win against her.''

In a semifinal Saturday afternoon, Hingis beat third-seeded Arantxa Sanchez Vicario 6-4, 6-4. Sanchez Vicario had a 4-3 lead in the second set, but Hingis recovered to win three straight games.

Hingis' win propelled her over something of a hump because she had lost in the semifinals of her last three tournaments. ``I can't believe I'm in the finals,'' Hingis said, facetiously. ``I don't know how it feels anymore.''

Hingis has won her past seven matches against Sanchez Vicario and owns a 7-1 career record against her. When she plays the Spaniard, Hingis said, she feels more in control than against other high-ranked players.

``She gives me more time to do some things,'' Hingis said. ``The other ones - like Lindsay, Monica and Mary Pierce - hit through the ball real hard. I don't have control against them. . . . Against Arantxa, I feel like I'm the personality on the court.''

Sanchez Vicario said she was pleased with her play, even though she lost and took more risks than in a typical match. ``When you play against Hingis, you have to go for more shots than you normally do,'' she said.

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Photo

PHOTO Martina Hingis has reason to smile - she was en route to the final of the Acura Classic at Manhattan Beach.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press