Fourth seed Jennifer Capriati won the last nine games against an injured Conchita Martinez on Saturday to move into the finals of the $225,000 Mazda Classic in Carlsbad, Calif., with a 6-4, 6-0 victory.
Capriati, 15, looking for her second career title on the women's tour and first this year, moved into a meeting against Monica Seles. The top-ranked Yugoslavian needed only 59 minutes to record a 6-2, 6-1 victory over sixth seed Nathalie Tauziat of France.The match will mark the youngest ever final since tennis' open era began in 1968. Seles is 17 years, 8 months of age and Capriati is 15 years, 4 months.
It erases the previous record set in 1980 at the Florida Federal tournament, when Andrea Jaeger at 15 years, 5 months, won in a default over Tracy Austin, who was 17 years 11 months.
Capriati, who defeated the second-seeded Martinez in last week's Federation Cup in Nottingham, England, trailed 4-3 as the Spaniard earned a service break in the seventh game at love.
But the teenager overcame Martinez' heavy topspin baseline game and began an unmerciful run on her opponent. She beat out a constant stream of her own baseline winners the rest of the way as Martinez began to hobble and often stopped during the points.
Capriati, ranked 10th in the world, finished the 54-minute match winning 35 of the final 43 points, limiting Martinez to five in the lopsided second set.
Martinez, ranked No. 7, was diagnosed as suffering from a muscle strain of her lower left leg.
"In the first set it started to bother me," said Martinez, who said she was committed to playing as long as she could stand. "The more I kept going, the pain started going more and more. I couldn't run in the second set. If I keep playing, it's not going to get any better. I need rest."
Martinez said she felt the problem about three weeks ago in practice, but it got painful during last week's Federation Cup, which Spain won by defeating the United States in the final.
Seles, using her usual unrelenting two-fisted groundstrokes, rolled to take the opening set with three breaks.
At Los Angeles, Brad Gilbert scored his biggest win this season and advanced to only his second final of the year as he upset top-seeded Stefan Edberg at the Volvo Tennis tournament on Saturday.
Gilbert, the fourth seed, beat an injured Edberg 7-6 (7-2), 6-7 (1-7), 6-4 and will face second seed Pete Sampras, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Italy's Stefano Pescosolido.
"It was good to win after eight months," Gilbert said. "It helps me a lot to play well. I wish I had put it away at 5-4. He played some great shots."
After breaking Edberg in the second set to go up 5-4, Gilbert was serving for the match when the Swede came back to force a tiebreaker. Gilbert hit the final two volleys into the net, giving the set to Edberg.
Earlier, play was stopped while Association of Tennis Professionals trainer Bob Norris treated Edberg's sore left knee.
Edberg said the recurring injury kept him from playing his best.
"I had problems pushing off, which made me a little bit sour today," said Edberg, playing in his first tournament since Wimbledon. "I had problems pushing off with my forehand, too.