NEW YORK Sept 8 : It was not easy. It was expected

No 1 Steffi

Graf and No 1 Monica Seles are meeting for the title. It has a familiar ring, report agencies.

While the two are co-ranked No 1 in the world. Graf is the top seed in the US Open, while Seles is seeded No 2. No matter. They wound up where everyone expected them to. in the final, for the second straight year.

Graf, the defending champion advanced with a 7-5. 6-3 victory Saturday over 15-year-old Martina Hingis of Switzerland. Seles defeated fourth-seeded Conchita Martinez 6-4. 6-3 before rain halted play on Friday.

Graf preyed on Hingis' inexperience early with some disguised drop shot* and tactic* designed to leave the 16th seed flat-footed in mid-court.

But it was Hingis, who beat Graf earlier this year in Rome, who came up with the first service break for a 5-3 edge as the German squandered a 40-0 lead on a string of overhit forehands and a backhand error.

The Swiss held her first set point while serving for the set in the next Game, but Hingis belted a forehand into the net and threw her racket in disgust. A backhand wide on the next Kint had the emotional teen uncing her racket off the court and a missed volley gave Graf the game.

Hingis gave Graf all she could handle in the next game as the German was forced to fend off four more set points before holding for 5-5.

Hingis dropped the next game and Graf quickly went up 40-0 when serving for the set.

Graf needed only one set point, and perhaps she was picturing the prosecutor who is trying to keep her father behind bars when she unleashed an explosive forehand into the corner to take the set.

On a roll now, Graf broke Hingis to open the second set and held to win her sixth consecutive game.

But Hingis did not fold, regrouping to keep it close as she saved two break points in the seventh game to pull within 4-3, after which both players left the court to change their sweat-soaked outfits.

Hingis took her time, keeping Graf waiting, and the top seed made her pay for it by winning the next game for 5-3 and. building a quick 0-40 lead on Hingis' serve.

Again, the holder of 20 ma-

jor titles jumped on her first chance to end it, drawing Hingis toward the net before belting a perfect forehand pass down the line for victory.

Afterward. Graf was asked how tough it had been to keep her focus on tennis with her father on trial, facing a 10-year prison sentence on tax evasion charges.

"Pretty difficult." she said.

Graf ts playing in her fourth consecutive US Open final. Including two against Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, a win in 1993 and a loss in 1994. Grafs first Iwo US Open titles came in 1988-89.

It will be Graf-Seles' 12th career meeting, with Graf holding a 7-4 lead. Including last year's US Open, when she posted a 7-6 (8-6). 0-6, 6-3 victory.

They also are meeting in the usual spot: the final.

Only in their first two meetings in 1989 — the French Open semifinals and the fourthround at Wimbledon — have they played before the title match.

At 27. Graf is five years older than Seles, but between them they have dominated women's tennis in recent years.

Graf is seeking her sixth consecutive Grand Slam tournament title and has a 41-match Grand Slam streak going into Sunday's final. The Open era record is held by Martina Navratilova, who won 45 consecutive Grand Slam tournament matches between 1983-84.

The last time Graf lost a Grand Slam tournament match was two years ago in the US Open final to Sanchez-Vicario.

She won her 100th singles title at Wimbledon in July. That also was her 20th Grand Slam singles crown, surpassing Helen Wills Moody to take sole possession of second place on the career list behind Margaret Smith Court's 24. Graf also won the French Open this year after skipping the Australian Open while recovering from foot surgery.

Seles won the Australian Open, her first Grand Slam tournament title since returning to tennis. She was stabbed by a spectator during at tournament in Hamburg, Germany, in April 1993 and didn't return to the sport until August 1995.Before she was stabbed, Seles was dominant, winning seven of nine Grand Slam tournaments from the 1991 Australian Open through the 1992 Australian Open. Only at Wimbledon did she falter during that stretch — not playing in 1991 and falling to Graf in the 1992 final.