Lindsay Davenport, the least known and the least charismatic woman in the top five, blasted the super-hyped Venus Williams aside 6-4, 6-4 here at Flushing Meadow to reach her first Grand Slam final.

Williams, the losing finalist last year at the first time of asking, is a heavy hitter herself but yesterday she was pummelled into submission by Davenport, who packs an unashamedly huge weight of shot, especially on the forehand.

She may not be as nimble or as subtle as many on the circuit but the 22-year-old Californian is well capable of simply crushing any opposition, and here she showed Williams that her number two world ranking and seeding are no accident.

Today she plays the champion Martina Hingis, who staged a remarkable recovery in the first semi-final - delayed by the Kenneth Starr Clinton revelations, which commanded live television coverage - to defeat Jana Novotna 3-6, 6-1, 6-4. It was another classic Novotna collapse although the Wimbledon champion insisted the defeat had "nothing to do with my mistakes; it was more a question of fatigue".

Neither Davenport nor the 18year-old Williams had much time to get tired, for the rallies were generally short as the ball scorched across the hardcourt. Davenport took a 3-0 lead and lost it but, after exchanging breaks to go 4-4, was almost totally in charge.

With Hingis 4-1 down in the final set, and fretting over a number of close calls on the baseline, Novotna had seemed poised for victory despite her long-term reputation. However, having finally won her first Grand Slam title this year on the grass of London SW19 after 12 years of trials and tribulation, there was some reason to suppose the days of diffidence might have departed for ever. Not so, though, for here she again crumbled and made 20 unforced errors in the final set to only five by Hingis, who took the last five games.

First a netted forehand allowed Hingis to break back to 4-2 and, in Novotna's next service game, came a stupendously awful high backhand volley miss with Hingis nowhere in sight. Then a Novotna cross-court forehand clipped the net and went out and suddenly Hingis had levelled almost without effort.

It was now that the Swiss moved in for the kill with a champion's instinct. She served to love and then hit a brace of deliciously hooked backhands down the line, shots as good as anything she had managed all day.

A steepling lob that almost held up on the wind might have given her victory as Novotna allowed the ball to fall out - which, if nothing else, was brave given some of the previous calls from the baseline. But Novotna, one match point saved on her own serve, then hit a return weakly into the net and Hingis leaped into the air.

The Americans have not seen vintage Hingis at these championships, with the world number one admitting to both emotional and physical problems. Her first set yesterday was another messy litany of service breaks, as in the Williams-Daven port match, with Novotna producing the greater range of stroke. "Jana didn't miss anything," Hingis admitted later. "I haven't played against anybody like her. But we're doubles partners, so I know her weakness and she knows mine."

Indeed they are partners - they are in the final together here against Davenport and the Belarussian Natasha Zvereva - and indeed she knows Novotna's weakness. The 29-year-old Czech lost her way completely in the second set, with Hingis taking more risks at the net and volleying well.

Clusters of unforced errors by Novotna enabled Hingis to dominate and then, just as the older woman appeared to have turned matters around again, the old demons returned.

Today's men's semi-finals could lead to the first Australian final since 1970, when Ken Rosewall defeated Tony Roche. Mark Philippoussis, the fourth-round conqueror of Tim Henman, won a thrilling five-set quarter-final against Sweden's Thomas Johansson to set up his semi-final against Spain's Carlos Moya, the French Open champion.

In the other match Pete Sampras, chasing a record-equalling 12th Grand Slam title, meets the champion Pat Rafter. Needless to say, few Americans expect Sampras to lose. But these are crazy days.