Martina Hingis announced herself as a contender for the only Grand Slam title she has never won with an impressive revenge victory which carried her to the quarter-finals of the German Open. Hingis' 6-3, 6-2 win over Elena Dementieva, the world number five from Russia, contained a host of beautifully constructed rallies and atoned for the Swiss player's heavy defeat in Tokyo three months ago.
It also suggested that, although this is Hingis's first clay court tournament for four years, she is playing well enough on this surface to be one of the title contenders for the French Open which starts later this month.
"It takes a while to get used to the movement, the sliding you need to use on clay, but so far I seem to have got back into without problems," said Hingis.
But although Hingis produced many trademark rallies full of changes of angle, pace and spin, she also revealed some new qualities.
Faced with one of the most dangerous strikers of a ball off the ground, Hingis set out to repel this threat by hitting harder than usual and frustrating the Dementieva attack by attacking her.
It produced many rousing rallies, and a match which could have changed direction had Dementieva managed to regain parity.
But although she came back from 1-4 down to 3-4 Dementieva immediately dropped serve with an indifferent game, and once Hingis had closed out the first set efficiently it had a profound effect on the psychology of the match.
After that the former triple Grand Slam titleholder knew that she could still deliver on the dirt, and began to create some sharp angles and some cleverly stolen approaches. Dementieva nevertheless had chances to get back into it, getting Hingis twice at love-30 on her serve and once at 15-40, but in none of these three games could she capitalise.
The moment which seemed to signal impending defeat came when Dementieva thought she had worked another break point at 2-3 in the second set, only for the line judge to call her angled ball wide of the sideline. She contested the decision, only for the umpire to descend from his chair and call it out as well. Earlier Li Na continued her great run and reached the quarter-finals of a Tier One event for the first time in her career. Her emphatic 6-0, 6-1 victory over the tired Columbian, Catalina Castano, lasted only 51 minutes, suggesting Li has made an excellent recovery from the heat exhaustion which caused her to retire in the final of the Estoril Open last week.
On Wednesday, Amelie Mauresmo began her clay court season in the build up to the French Open with a relaxed and rapid win to reach the third round.
The top-seeded world number one from France needed slightly less than an hour to saunter past Russia's Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-2. The match was shorter than ideal for someone quickly trying to adapt to clay court tennis with the Roland Garros less than three weeks away.
First Ana Ivanovic, the 12th seed from Serbia retired with a thigh injury against Li in the first round and now sixth seeded German Anna-Lena Groenefeld has been removed from Li's path. Groenefeld became the seventh seed to fall by the wayside in less than three days when she lost a long battle to the improving Columbian, Catalina Castano.
The German was beaten 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 by an opponent who is at a career-high 36 in the world rankings and had a big, wind-up forehand which she could hit with disguise and take from the backhand as well as forehand side.
THURSDAY'SV RESULTS (x denotes seeding):
SECOND ROUND: Martina Hingis (SUI) bt Elena Dementieva (RUS x5) 6-3, 6-2; Li Na (CHN) bt Catalina Castano (COL) 6-1, 6-0; Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL x3) bt Maria Kirilenko (RUS x15) 6-1, 6-0; Dinara Safina (RUS x10) bt Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x8) 6-3, 6-2.
WEDNESDAY'S RESULTS:
SECOND ROUND: Amelie Mauresmo (FRA x1) bt Vera Dushevina (RUS) 6-1, 6-2; Catalina Castano (COL) bt Anna-Lena Groeneveld (GER x7) 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; Elena Dementieva (RUS x5) bt Julia Vakulenko 6-2, 3-0 ret; Dinara Safina (RUS x10) bt Kveta Peschke (CZE) 6-3, 6-1; Li Na (CHN) bt Nathalie Vierin (ITA) 6-1, 6-2; Sybille Bammer (AUT) bt Laura Pous Tio (ESP) 6-4, 4-6, 7-5; Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS x6) bt Martina Muller (GER) 6-3, 3-6, 6-0; Nadia Petrova (RUS x2) bt Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6-1, 7-6 (7/3); Maria Kirilenko (RUS x15) bt Klara Koukalova (CZE) 6-4, 6-3; Anna Chekvatadze (RUS) bt Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP x16) 6-3, 6-4; Zheng Jie (CHI) bt Anne Kremer (LUX) 7-6 (7/3), 6-3; Martina Hingis (CZE) bt Julia Schruff (GER) 6-4, 6-3; Anna Smashnova (ISR) bt Virginie Razzano (FRA) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3; Justine Henin-Hardenne (BEL x3) bt Mara Santangelo (ITA) 6-4, 6-1; Daniela Hantuchova (SVK x8) bt Katarina Srebotnick (SLO) 6-4, 0-6, 6-1.
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