Kournikova, Hingis are doubles trouble
Teenaged duo knocks off talented team of Seles, Novotna
Posted: Sunday January 24, 1999 09:38 AM
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Hingis (left) and Kournikova won the star-studded match also featuring Monica Seles and Jana Novotna AP |
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Hundreds of people waited in line,
hoping one of the 6,000 unreserved seats in Court One would open
up. And it was only a third-round women's doubles match.
One of the players was glamorous Russian 17-year-old Anna
Kournikova, but for a change she wasn't the star of the show.
Even her double faults weren't remarkable as she and 18-year-old
Martina Hingis, the two-time defending Australian Open singles
champion, beat veterans Monica Seles, a four-time singles winner
here, and Jana Novotna, who has won a total of 73 doubles titles on
the women's tour.
With Hingis as the anchor, the youngsters prevailed 7-6 (11-9),
6-3 Sunday, and the cheers were divided among the four players.
In her singles matches here,Kournikova has received thumping,
roaring, whistling support from capacity crowds -- despite double
faulting 31 times while beating Japan's Miho Saeki in the second
round and 14 times in defeating Germany's Andrea Glass in the
third.
Her fans also have lustily cheered her opponents' misses, but
that wasn't the case Sunday as spectators shouted, "Go, Monica,"
and "Come on, Jana."
She served only four double faults Sunday, but held service only
once in five games. Double faults, two each, were the problem in
two games. In another, she missed an overhead and Hingis netted a
volley on the crucial points. Then winners by Seles and Novotna did
her in.
But Seles, the only one of the four who didn't serve and volley,
dropped serve four times, and Novotna three times.
The 30-year-old Novotna hit a few brilliant shots, but also
suffered a continuation of the errors that plagued her in a 6-3,
6-0 third-round singles loss to Spain's Maria Antonia Sanchez
Lorenzo.
In the quarterfinals, Hingis and Kournikova meet American Nicole
Arendt and Dutch player Manon Bollegraf.
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