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Not this time Davenport takes Pan Pacific final, ending Hingis' run
TOKYO (Reuters) -- American Lindsay Davenport ended Martina Hingis's two-year championship run at the Pan Pacific Open on Sunday to win 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 6-2 in a high-caliber match where the Swiss world No. 1 fired a few too many duds. Davenport had Hingis on the ropes for most of the match but had trouble delivering the knock-out punch as Hingis showed tennis mastery and escape artistry to take the first set and keep the second set close. In the third set, Davenport broke Hingis in the fourth game as she pounced on weak service offerings from the Swiss prodigy to hit two return winners. Davenport looked ready to power past Hingis in the next game going up 30-0 and firing off an ace, but the wily Hingis brought the game to deuce. Davenport fired off a pair of sharp serves to take the game and then ride out the set in the $1.2 million tournament. "It was a very tough match and there wasn't much difference between us," Davenport said. The Hingis-Davenport match marked the 16th time the two have met in a final. Davenport has won 10 of those contests but Hingis has won three of the last five, including a three-set thriller in a warm-up event in Sydney last month for the Australian Open. Hingis and Davenport were both looking to rebound in Tokyo from losses at the Australian Open as the tall American fell to Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals and Hingis tumbled against the same player in the final. First prize in the tournament is $175,000 while the runner-up took home $94,000.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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