The last time the 24-year-old American had gone so far in the tournament which made her famous was in 1992, when she won her third consecutive title here.

Martina Hingis: no answer

Since then, the sixth seed has been through very hard times, not playing in Paris for three years after being stabbed in the back by a Steffi Graf fan in Hamburg on April 30, 1993.

She entered her seventh French Open still shocked by the recent death of her father.

"These past few weeks have not been the happiest in my life.

"It is nice to see a little bit of sunshine after so many clouds," she said after her stunning 69-minute victory.

Hingis had won all five of their previous encounters - all since the 1993 stabbing - and was especially motivated as this was the only grand slam she has yet to win.

No mistakes

But she had no answer to Seles's ground stroke excellence on Thursday.

"She did not make any mistakes. I did not get any chance to come back into the match," said Hingis, who admitted feeling tired after beating American Venus Williams in the previous round.

"She surprised everybody. She has been around for quite a while, she did not play for like four years and now she is back in great shape, probably better than ever," Hingis added.

Seles plays fourth seed Arantxa Sanchez Vicario on Saturday in a rematch of the 1991 final.

The Spaniard dismissed American second seed Lindsay Davenport 6-3 7-6.

The final will also mark the revenge of the older generation on the up-and-coming teenagers who had been stealing the show since the start of the tournament.