Brewing rivalry
Hingis beats Davenport in Hopman Cup; Australia in finals
Posted: Thursday January 07, 1999 12:10 PM
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Hingis sent a message that she doesn't plan to be out of the No.1 spot for long AP |
PERTH, Australia (AP) -- Martina Hingis sent a warning to world
No. 1 Lindsay Davenport that she's ready to regain her top ranking
with a 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 victory in their clash at the Hopman Cup on
Thursday.
Although Jan-Michael Gambill then put the United States back on
level terms with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Ivo Heuberger, Switzerland
took the doubles 6-3, 6-3 to leave the Americans with no chance of
reaching the final.
It was the Swiss player's second-straight win over Davenport
since conceding top spot to the U.S. Open champion in October.
But Davenport dismisses any talk of a rivalry between them.
"I like playing against her, I have a good time with it, but
there's a lot of girls right now that are very tough to play,"
said Davenport. "The press tries to make such a lot out of a
rivalry, but you just have to let it happen naturally over a couple
of years. It took a lot of years for Chris (Evert) and Martina
(Navratilova) to become true rivals. We'll just have to see how it
plays out."
Both players rallied furiously from the baseline, but there were
also plenty of unforced errors. Davenport fired 11 aces and Hingis
nine, but Davenport also struck seven double-faults and Hingis
eight.
Just one break of serve settled the opening set when Hingis took
a 3-1 lead, but after breaking to lead 1-0 in the second set she
won only one point in her next three service games.
Davenport also struggled to find any consistency and allowed a
3-1 lead to dissolve, but she broke to level the match as Hingis
double-faulted twice at 6-5.
In the deciding set, Hingis jumped to a 3-0 lead before a
succession of stunning returns from Davenport pulled the American
back into the game. But Hingis was the steadier player and easily
held off the threat of a comeback.
Host nation Australia qualified for Saturday's final when it
overcame France 2-1. The remaining place will be decided Friday,
when the United States plays the Slovak Republic and Switzerland
plays Sweden.
Jelena Dokic scored her second upset win in two days, following
up her win over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of
Sandrine Testud.
But it was obvious from the first ball when Testud
double-faulted that she was unwell. She generated little power in
her shots, and after dropping the first set she called for the
trainer. Although she continued, Testud barely moved for the ball
and offered little resistance to her 15-year-old opponent.
Mark Philippoussis then outplayed Guillaume Raoux 6-1, 6-2 to
give Australia a 2-0 lead. Although the hosts dropped the doubles,
they advanced when South Africa could only manage a 2-1 win against
Zimbabwe.
South Africa, who with France and Australia also had a chance to
reach the final, needed to win 3-0.
Amanda Coetzer defeated Cara Black 6-3, 6-4, and Wayne Ferreira
recoered from 1-4 in the first set to beat Wayne Black 7-5, 7-6
(7-4). But Ferreira suffered a groin strain during the singles and
South Africa was forced to default the doubles.
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