Hingis Will March Back Up The Rankings, Says Davenport

The Age

Thursday January 19, 2006

DAN OAKES

WORLD No. 1 Lindsay Davenport has backed Martina Hingis to continue her march back up the rankings after three years out of the game.

Hingis, a triple Australian Open winner, plays Finland's Emma Laine today after brushing aside 30th seed Vera Zvonareva in the first round of her first grand slam tournament since the 2002 US Open.

Doubts had been raised about her ability to cope with the increased emphasis on pure power in the game.

But Davenport, finalist last year and winner in 2000, said yesterday she believed Hingis would find a way around the problem.

"She always found a way around it before," Davenport said. "More than anything, the girl finds a way to win and finds a way to get her opponent uncomfortable. I'm sure she has a way to negate power still."

If Hingis, now ranked 349, beats Laine and fifth seed Mary Pierce dispatches Iveta Benesova today, the two will meet in the third round, their first match-up since Pierce beat Hingis in the semi-finals of the 2000 French Open. "If she (Hingis) gets through to play Mary, that will be really, really an interesting match and a great test for the other players and fans to see exactly where Martina is at," Davenport said.

"She's always played well in Australia. Her record and history here is very good, it's great that she's feeling good and playing well."

Defending champion Serena Williams, who had a straight-sets win over Camille Pin of France, also managed to catch some of Hingis' first grand slam singles match in four years.

"I caught a few points here and there," Williams said. "I thought she played really well."

But there was a note of 13th-seeded superiority. "Everyone can have their dreams, and she's dreaming big," Williams said.

© 2006 The Age

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