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Sanchez-Vicario, Schett upset in Dubai
DUBAI (Reuters) -- Martina Hingis breezed into the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships on Wednesday, dismissing South Africa's Joanette Kruger 6-2, 6-1. But two seeds -- Barbara Schett and Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario -- were early casualties. Sixth seed Schett was ousted 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 by Tunisian wild card entry Selima Sfar and fourth seed Sanchez Vicario, playing her first match in three months, was beaten 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 by young Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya. Hingis was far from her best, but did enough to overcome an opponent who competed well but showed no weapons capable of seriously troubling the world No. 1. Hingis tied up her victory in just 52 minutes, but had a tougher time than the score suggests. After breaking serve in the second game, she faced a break point herself when leading 4-2, but Kruger missed her chance by making a forehand error. Hingis then broke again to take the set, executing a perfectly placed drop shot on set point. In the second set, Hingis again broke to lead 2-0, but in the next game dropped her serve for the only time in the match. But, raising her game when she needed to, the top seed struck a fine forehand winner to break again for 3-1, and this time held on to her lead. Another break for 5-1 then settled the match. "My level today was always up and down a little bit, but when I really needed it and had to make the points I could do it," said Hingis. "Last week I played on a different surface... different balls... and I'm playing with a new racket, so that's three things at the same time that are changing. "When I was here yesterday I felt like a beginner. It's such a turnaround that you have to work yourself up again, but usually after two or three days I feel very good." Sfar, ranked No. 136, claimed the biggest victory of her career by outlasting 22nd-ranked Schett. Born in Tunis, the 23-year old moved to France 10 years ago to train at Nathalie Tauziat's academy in Biarritz. Still stunned after her victory, Sfar had difficulty describing how she had won. "I think I have to have some time to think, but I went on court and believed I could do something good," she said. "I played point by point and just gave everything. Maybe I was a little bit lucky, because there was a point before match point she missed an easy volley. "I was lucky on that one. And sometimes at the important times I played the right shots."
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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