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Then there were two Top seeds Hingis, Davenport advance to final
Posted: Thursday January 27, 2000 02:02 PM
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Enter her domain. No. 1 seeded Martina Hingis says center court at Melbourne Park is like her home. She's won the last three Australian Open titles on it and hasn't lost a match there since 1996, winning 27 matches in succession. Vying to become the first woman since 1966 to win four successive Australian Open championships, she hasn't dropped a set and has only been pushed once, in her quarterfinal against Sandrine Testud when she won a tiebreak in the second. "It shows how well I've played overall," Hingis said after her 6-3, 6-2 semifinal win over No. 10 Conchita Martinez. "Nobody made more than three games in one set but Sandrine, so I guess I was playing well. "I think I concentrate well at this tournament, I always play on center court and ... I feel so homey out there. It has been my court for the last three years and I intend to keep going one more." Margaret Smith-Court of Australia won her country's Open between 1960 and 1966. The 19-year-old Swiss is cautious of Lindsay Davenport, her rival in Saturday's decider, saying the American is her most formidable adversary to date. And with good reason. The No. 2 seeded Davenport has won their last three head-to-heads and says she's confident of going one better. Hingis, who defeated Mary Pierce in 1997, Conchita Martinez in '98 and Amelie Mauresmo last year, describes the No. 1 vs. No. 2 clash as the "dream final," saying no two players deserve to be there more. "I think the two of us have been the most consistent players in the last three years -- it's her or me always in the semis or the finals or winning tournaments," she said. "So I think it's very good to have the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the Grand Slam finals."
Davenport agrees that Hingis almost "owns center court" and concedes she faces an uphill battle, particularly after bowing out in the semifinals here in the last two years, but says she has some good omens in her favor. She's played two previous Grand Slam finals, the U.S. Open in 1998 and Wimbledon last year, and won both. On both occasions she defeated an American in the semifinals, a record she extended at Melbourne Park with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) semifinal win over Jennifer Capriati, and both times she beat the favorite. "When I won the U.S. Open I beat Martina and last year, at Wimbledon, I played Steffi and I think she was the favorite by far," she said. "I like to beat the best of the best when I win the Grand Slams." "I'm 2 and 0 in finals, hopefully I can make it 3 and 0." Davenport sustained a slight abdominal and groin strain against Capriati and subsequently retired from her doubles semifinal later Thursday against Hingis and Mary Pierce while trailing 5-0 in the first. But she says she'll be okay Saturday. "It's a little stiff now but I've had it for about a week, I think it's going to be fine," she said. Davenport, the 1996 Atlanta Olympic gold medalist, says she has overpowered Hingis in their last three meetings and will be maintaining the aggressive tactics in the final. The 23-year-old American also has a 9-7 lead overall in head-to-heads, but Hingis says she's got some new strategies to counter her. "She has been able to serve very well against me and I just didn't have anything to hurt her at that time," she said. "But I think I've improved," since losing the Chase Championship final in December. "I have been able to beat her before, it has always been back and forth [but] I can always improve on the score right now."
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