The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Martina Hingis has it easy

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 03, 2007
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Sport - Tennis

Martina Hingis has it easy

Leander Paes-Martin Damm begin on a bright note

GOLD COAST: Martina Hingis needed only 46 minutes on Tuesday to complete a 6-0, 6-1 win over Australian Nicole Pratt at the Australian WTA hardcourt championship.

The Swiss star, who finished the 2006 season at No. 7 in the world rankings, had little trouble with Pratt, who said before the match that she would not be intimidated by Hingis.

But Pratt only briefly overpowered Hingis, breaking the Swiss player's service in the opening game of the second set before losing the next six games and the match.

Dinara Safina of Russia earlier won her first-round match against countrywoman Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2.

Easy win

At Doha, Leander Paes and Czech Republic's Martin Damm launched their 2007 season on a winning note recording an easy victory over Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui and Sultan Khalfan of the host country in the first round of the $1 million Qatar Open. Paes and Damm carved out a 6-2, 6-1 win over the wild card pair to move into the second round.

The results:

At Gold Coast: WTA Mondial Australian women's Hardcourts (second round): Martina Hingis bt Nicole Pratt 6-0, 6-1; Catalina Castano bt Na Li 6-4, 1-6, 6-2; Tathiana Garbin bt Severine Bremond 6-3, 6-1; Elena Vesnina bt Katarina Srebotnik 6-3, 6-2. First round: Dinara Safina bt Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-2.

At Adelaide: ATP Next Generation Adelaide International (round robin): Lleyton Hewitt bt Janko Tipsarevic 6-1, 4-2 (retd.); Richard Gasquet bt Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-1; Vince Spadea bt Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-4; Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Jan Hernych 4-6, 6-3, 6-3; Paul Goldstein bt Dominik Hrbaty 6-2, 7-6(4).

At Auckland: WTA ASB Classic (second round): Jill Craybas bt Gisela Dulko 6-3, 7-5. First round: Paola Suarez bt Martina Muller 3-6, 6-1, 6-1; Daniela Hantuchova bt Dominika Sibulkova 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. At Doha: ATP Qatar Exxon-Mobil Open (first round): Mikhail Youzhny bt Daniele Bracciali 7-5, 6-3; Andy Murray bt Filippo Volandri 4-6, 6-2, 6-4; Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo bt Sultan Khalfan 7-6(5), 6-2; Gael Monfils bt Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4. Doubles (first round): Martin Damm / Leander Paes bt Younes El Aynaoui / Sultan Khalfan 6-3, 6-4. — Agencies