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'Just cruising' Hingis advances to Pan Pacific semifinals
Posted: Friday February 04, 2000 09:47 AM
TOKYO (AP) -- Defending champion and top-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland cruised past fifth seed Anna Kournikova of Russia 6-0, 6-2 Friday, advancing to the semifinals at the $1.08 million Toray Pan Pacific Open. In the semifinals Saturday, world No. 1 Hingis takes on No. 25 Chanda Rubin of the United States, a 6-4, 6-4 winner over fourth seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa. In the other block of the quarterfinals, Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnk ousted lucky loser Lilia Osterloh of the United States 7-6 (8-6), 6-1. Osterloh, ranked 87th, had reached the round of eight players by beating second seed Mary Pierce of France 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. Srebotnik, 65th-ranked, meets in the semifinals sixth seed and No. 15 player Sandrine Testud, who ousted French compatriot Nathlie Tauziat 7-6 (7-4), 6-0. The 19-year-old Hingis, the Australian Open's runner-up last week, needed only 47 minutes to beat her fast-moving opponent for the seventh time in their eight career matches since the 1997 French Open. Hingis once lost to Kournikova on a clay court in the 1998 German Open. With the second-ranked Lindsay Davenport passing the tournament because of an injured left hamstring, and after Pierce's second-round exit, Hingis would seem to have an easy path in the Pan Pacific Open. Davenport has beaten Hingis in straight sets the last four times they played, including the finals of last week's Australian Open. On Friday, Hingis had just two aces but didn't lose many points on her serve as she dominated the play throughout, mixing her usual power with backhand slices, volleys and soft, angled shots on the synthetic carpet court of the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. "I played very well and was very focused today. Tennis is an amazing game. If I win one or two points in the beginning, that's very important," said Hingis. "Today, I was just cruising through the match after that." "Chanda had a good win yesterday against Stevenson, and she's playing very good here. She's a quick player and has a very good forehand," Hingis said of her semifinals opponent. In their six career meetings since the 1995 Zurich Swisscom Challenge, Hingis has won four. In her second-round action on Thursday, Rubin, of Lafayette, Louisiana, ousted Alexandra Stevenson, the first woman to make the Wimbledon semifinals as a qualifier last summer, with a 6-4, 6-1 triumph. On Friday, Rubin had a scare in the second set against Coetzer, when she was broken for 4-4. But Rubin broke the next game with some sharpshooting down the lines and then held her own serve with an ace and a serve point to take the set and the match. "I wasn't worried. I was a bit annoyed to drop my serve," Rubin said, recalling the crucial moment in that second set. "Then I thought I rushed the game a little bit and let it slip away." Against Hingis in the semifinals, Rubin said, "I feel very good going into the match. I feel like I'm playing very well, hitting the ball well. She's always tough to play. As the No. 1 in the world, she's going to be confident out there and she has won the tournament.
"I'll just try to do a little bit of the same things I did today, be a little more solid and see where I end up when it's all finished... I've had some pretty good results against her, but she's always tough for me. So, I'm just going to try to stay relaxed and have fun and concentrate."
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