TOP SEED Monica Seles, produced a marvellous comeback to reach her fourth Australian Open final as she beat teenager Chanda Rubin in three sets yesterday.

Seles, whose return to tennis after an April 1993 stabbing has revitalised the women's game, faces eighth seed, Anke Huber, after the German reached her first grand slam final with a three set win over South Africa's Amanda Coetzer.

The 22 year old Seles, favourite to win her ninth grand slam title in the absence of the injured Steffi Graf, came back from 5-2 down in the third set to win 6-7 6-1 7-5 against the talented Robin, who was facing her Yugoslav born compatriot for the first time.

Huber's first ever match against Coetz, though without the drama of the Seles encounter, gave the tournament a new twist with the 21 year old German making it into a grand slam final at the 24th attempt.

"It's a big surprise, I didn't expect it . . . it's difficult to explain (how I feel)," an overwhelmed Huber told reporters after her 4-6 6-4 6-2 victory.

Seles, the joint world No 1 who has had niggling injuries throughout the tournament, had to dig deep to level the match in the second set against an inspired Robin after losing the first on a tie break.

The young American, who had beaten the world number three Arantxa Sanchez Vicario in a hour quarter final, followed the same do or die approach and at 5-2 in the deciding set the centre court crowd scented an historic victory.

As so often with champions, Seles - unbeaten in Australia in 31 outings, 27 of them at the Australian Open had other ideas.

Seles held serve and at 5-3 with Robin poised for an upset, she finally cracked her pounding serve for the first time in the set and then broke again to set up a remarkable victory.

Seles, who won the Open for three straight years before being stabbed by a Graf fan, said she felt lucky to have survived to the final.

"I just can't believe it because at 5-2 I was pretty sure it was goodbye," an exhausted Seles said. "I'm just very glad that I'm there because I'm very lucky to be in the final."

Rub in, who won a protracted standing ovation for her victory over Sanchez Vicario, said she tried to dominate Seles by going for her shots.

"I tried to stay aggressive and get in a little bit . . . and I think I did that pretty well. I gave myself chances but I didn't close it out."

Seles, who has beaten Huber twice since coming back from her 28 month lay off, predicted a hard hitting final on Saturday.

The German lived dangerously against 16th seeded Coelzer.

After losing the first set, she changed tactics and slowed down the pace of the match against the diminutive South African who was chasing down everything.

"I tried to hit too many winners in the second set I played a little bit smarter, some more topspins, some high balls. I changed the rhythm a little bit and that was the important thing," Huber said.

Seles said she had hurt her left shoulder lifting weights before the match, forcing her to pull back on her serve.