Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez beat Hingis 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals of the $1.08 million German Open, snapping the Swiss player's 13-match winning streak and dropping her back to No. 2 in next week's Sanex WTA Tour rankings.
Hingis, who also struggled in her previous two matches, let a 4-2 second-set lead slip away before Martinez whipped her second serve return at her knees to end the match in 1 hour, 42 minutes.
``Naturally I'm disappointed. But now I have the chance to beat a No. 1 at Rome,'' said Hingis, who will be at the Italian Open next week along with Davenport.
Martinez, a former Wimbledon champion, faces 10th-seeded Amanda Coetzer in Sunday's final. Coetzer beat fellow South African Joanette Kruger 6-2, 6-4.
``It's a miracle - after all Martina is the No. 1,'' said Martinez, who hadn't taken a set from Hingis in their last eight meetings.
Hingis, the defending champion, needed to reach the final to retain enough points to stay ahead of Davenport. It was the fifth time she has played a tournament this year with the No. 1 ranking on the line.
She had grabbed back the top ranking from the American, who held it for five weeks, by winning last week's Betty Barclay Open.
Hingis had struggled in her previous two matches at the clay court event, just two weeks before the French Open starts. On Friday, she barely escaped a loss before edging France's Sandrine Testud in three sets in the quarterfinals.
But Martinez, who has 31 titles to her credit and is ranked eighth in the world, didn't let Hingis escape this time, finding an answer for everything the Swiss teen-ager tried.
The two players kept the crowd cheering with some sparkling rallies, mixing drop shots, net attacks and long baseline rallies as they tried to get an edge.
``This was my best match this year,'' said Martinez. ``To play so well is really great. But I knew I had a chance on clay.''
Martinez' only two previous wins against Hingis came on the surface.
She punished Hingis with a hard forehand, running up a 19-7 advantage in winners with that stroke during the match.
But the point that knotted the second set at 4-4 came at the net, allowing Martinez to break back and claim the second set.
Martinez and Hingis traded several sharply-angled cross-court drop volleys before the Spanish player lofted a soft winner into the open court.
Hingis said she began to tire after her nearly 2 1/2-hour match Friday against Testud.
``I tried to keep the rallies short because I was just getting more and more tired,'' said Hingis.