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On a roll Hingis wins 11th straight match
Posted: Tuesday May 09, 2000 11:21 AM
BERLIN (AP) -- A relaxed-looking Martina Hingis breezed to her 11th straight win Tuesday at the German Open, ousting fellow Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi in straight sets. Hingis beat her friend, 6-2, 6-2 and advanced to the third round of the $1.08 million event, closing out the match in just 50 minutes by winning an exchange of volleys at the net. The 19-year-old, coming back from a month-layoff, won last week at the Betty Barclay Cup and also grabbed back the top-ranking from American rival Lindsay Davenport during the event. "The win last week gave me a lot of confidence," said Hingis. "You feel pretty easy-going out there when you're coming off a title and you're No. 1." Spain's Conchita Martinez, the 1998 winner who is seeded third, also advanced without trouble. She rolled past Sylvia Plischke 6-0 in the first set before the Austrian withdrew. In other action, 10th-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa blasted Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus, 6-1, 6-0, No. 15 Chanda Rubin of the United States ousted Barbara Rittner, Germany, 6-1, 6-4 and another American, Corina Morariu, rolled past Germany's Andrea Glass, Germany, 6-1, 6-0. Hingis would have raced past the over-matched Gagliardi -- ranked 68th -- even faster if she hadn't dropped two games when leading 5-0 in the second set. But Gagliardi, who had trouble handling her friend's drop shots and pressure, suddenly began landing a hard first serve and driving shots deep for winners. "It got harder because she played aggressively, but after two games, I thought I should close things out," said Hingis. "For a first match, I'm pretty satisfied. Not everything can work, but I tried a few things out." Hingis, the defending champion, faces a depleted field after Davenport chose not to enter and Serena Williams withdrew with an injured left leg. Most of the top players like France's Natalie Tauziat, who has climbed to third in the world, Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario and Russian Anna Kournikova first see action Wednesday. Hingis is in the midst of her 137th week at No. 1, placing her fifth on the all-time list behind Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Monica Seles.
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