Martina Hingis wins comeback title in Rome
22nd May 2006
Former world # 1 Martina Hingis completes her warm-up on clay by winning the Internazionali d’Italia, beating Dinara Safina 6-2 7-5 in today’s final. This prestigious Tier I tournament gives Hingis her 41st career title and her first one since Tokyo in 2002.
Having beaten Safina in straight sets in Indian Wells earlier this year, the Swiss Miss started confidently, winning the first 5 games by moving her opponent from side to side and creating lovely angles. The young Russian, who had an incredible run this week, appeared nervous to be in her first ever Tier I final and gifted Hingis with a number of unforced errors. She quickly narrowed it down to 5-2 with some aggressive play, but Hingis regrouped on the next game by holding her serve to 15. She won the first set 6-2 after 27 minutes when Safina hit a backhand long on her 2nd set point.
Hingis raced to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd set before Safina easily held her serve for 2-1. After winning 2 more games for a 4-1 cushion, Hingis looked to like she was in complete control of the match. But she began to miss a few shots - a poorly played drop shot and an easy forehand dumped into the net - and began to lose her composure. The Russian narrowed the gap to 4-3. At 6-2 5-3, Hingis held two match points, only to have them saved by the gutsy Safina with two booming serves. With new-found confidence, the Russian won the game and broke Hingis to even it out at 5-5. Hingis immediately broke back, but then saw herself down 0-40 on her serve. At this point it looked like the 2nd set was going into a tiebreaker. Never giving up, though, Hingis hit a couple of deep shots and unleashed a running forehand winner to bring it back to deuce. 2 points later, she saved another breakpoint with her trademark shot - a backhand down the line winner. She finally clinched the title on her 4th championship point when Safina failed to return a deep second serve.
This ended Dinara Safina’s impressive performance in Rome, where she defeated Kim Clijsters, Elena Dementieva and Svetlana Kuznetsova en route to the final. She will receive 210 points and $100,000 in prize money as the runner-up.
On the other hand, Martina Hingis defeated 5 seeded opponents consecutively for this title. This impressive victory gives her $196,900 and 300 points, which will push her ranking into the Top 15 after only 5 months since her comeback. This would mean that she is guaranteed to get at least a Top 16 seeding in the French Open, which begins the week of May 29. She takes the next week off for some much deserved rest, then heads to Paris for Roland Garros, the only Grand Slam thus far to elude her.
Technorati Tags: breakpoint, dinara safina, impressive performance, indian wells, martina hingis, Rome: Masters Series WTA