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Leave it to the women Stability, spunk restored to Open
Posted: Wednesday September 01, 1999 11:16 PM
FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. (Ticker) -- One day after the men's side of the U.S. Open was rocked by the exit of Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter, the women left little room for such drama. Seeded women went 7-0 Wednesday, including easy victories from No. 1 Martina Hingis, No. 3 Venus Williams and No. 10 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Sampras of the United States, the world's No. 1 player, and two-time defending champion Patrick Rafter of Australia were forced to withdraw from the tournament Tuesday with injuries, leaving the top half of the men's draw wide open. Meanwhile, the women's draw has been more true to form with 15 of the 16 seeded players still alive. Only No. 6 Amanda Coetzer has been eliminated. The 19-year-old Hingis needed just 46 minutes to dismiss Sarah Pitkowski of France 6-1, 6-1 at the $14.5 million Grand Slam event. She had 19 winners to just 7 for Pitkowski and converted five of seven break point chances as she was never threatened by her outclassed opponent. "A match like this, where you know if you play your standard it will be fine -- that feels pretty good," said Hingis who had no complaints after her short day's work. "You know you have to play your best, but I prefer it this way sometimes." Hingis has completely overcome her summer meltdown at the French Open and Wimbledon and is again concentrating 100 percent in her game. "I was trying a few things, coming and doing shots I wouldn't do if I had to play a great player and knew that it was an important point," she said. "If that was the case, I wouldn't try all of the things that I did today." Sanchez-Vicario beat Nicole Pratt 6-2, 6-2, and Williams needed only 77 minutes Wednesday evening for a 6-4, 6-3 victory over 35th-ranked Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France. "Anne-Gaelle played well. She hits a nice, flat, deep ball, so that's always good competition," Williams said.Williams, enjoying a career-high ranking of third in the world, chose a short, skin-tight, white backless dress with matching white hair beads as evening wear for her first night match of the 1999 U.S. Open. At times she looked as tight as the dress, although she was never in any real danger. "I lost serve twice (actually three times), which is something I'm going to have to refrain from doing as the tournament goes further and further," she said.
Hingis defeated Williams in the final of this tournament in 1997. After back-to-back losses at the French Open and Wimbledon, Hingis has bounced back to win two tournaments during the summer hardcourt season and reclaim the No. 1 ranking. The teenager has won a WTA Tour-leading six events this season, including her third straight Australian Open title in January. Hingis lost to the now-retired Steffi Graf in the French Open final and followed that defeat with a humiliating 6-2, 6-0 first-round loss to Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon. She got off to a good start here on Monday with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Kveta Hrdlickova of the Czech Republic. A finalist in 1997 in her U.S. Open debut and a semifinalist last year, the 19-year-old Williams has looked impressive over the past month. She reached consecutive finals at California events in Stanford and San Diego and defeated Davenport to win last week's Pilot Pen in New Haven, Connecticut, her fifth title of 1999.
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