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 Hingis completes Slam doubles sweep
Posted: Sunday September 13, 1998 04:33 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) -- A day after surrendering her U.S. Open singles title to Lindsay Davenport, Martina Hingis turned the tables on the American by claiming the women's doubles crown Sunday. The top-seeded duo of Hingis and Jana Novotna defeated second seeds Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva 6-3, 6-3, completing a rare Grand Slam doubles sweep for Hingis. "Even though I lost the singles yesterday, I still was pretty pumped to come out here today," said Hingis, who fell 6-3, 7-5 to Davenport in Saturday's singles final. Hingis splits a $320,000 winner's check with the 29-year-old Novotna. "We had a wonderful time playing together this year," Novotna, who won the 1997 U.S. Open doubles title with Davenport on her side, said during the awards ceremony. "I was really pleased to see her come out today after such a tough loss yesterday still smiling," Novotna said of her young partner. The 17-year-old Swiss world No. 1 in singles and doubles claimed the Australian Open doubles title with Croatian teen Mirjana Lucic before scooping up the French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open doubles crowns with Novotna. Hingis, who successfully defended her Australian Open singles title this year, is only the fourth player ever to sweep the four major women's doubles titles in one year. Hingis's namesake, Martina Navratilova, and Pam Shriver won the doubles slam in 1984 and Brazilian Maria Bueno won the four major doubles titles with two different partners in 1960. Despite feeling dejected after losing Saturday's singles final, Hingis said she found a way to get psyched up for the consolation prize. "I was kind of making history for myself today," she said. "When you win a Grand Slam in doubles it's still nice, you have a nice trip back home." For Davenport and Zvereva it was a Grand Slam runners-up sweep as the pair fell at the final stage of each of the four majors. "Today we gave it our best, but Martina and Jana were just too good," said Davenport, who adds her half of the $160,000 runners-up check to her $700,000 singles prize. With what she also picked up for a first-round win before pulling out of mixed doubles to rest her ailing elbow, Davenport takes home a tidy $783,000 haul for two week's work. Zvereva, a four-time U.S. Open doubles champion, was asked what she needed to do to beat Hingis and Novotna. "I'll just have to kick Martina in the shin," she quipped.
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