Hingis Wins Sunfeast 2006 For Title No. 42
25th September 2006
Martina Hingis ended her Indian campaign by collecting her second title of the season and her forty-second career title when she beat Russian teen Olga Poutchkova at the final round of the Sunfeast Open, in Kolkata, India, 6-0, 6-4, in less than an hour.
Hingis dominated her young opponent in the first set. Poutchkova offered little resistance to Hingis’ shots and ended up with unforced errors. Never giving a chance for Poutchkova to catch up with her game, Hingis wasted no time in winning the first set 6-0.
The second set saw Poutchova using her powerful backhand. Poutchkova then forced Hingis into making mistakes then raced to a 3-1 lead. Hingis then found her rhythm and won the next four games by holding her serve and breaking Poutchkova’s serve respectively twice, for a 5-3 lead. The Russian refused to give up, broke Hingis’ serve to narrow down Hingis’ lead to 5-4. Her Russian opponent watched helplessly as Hingis broke back, winning the second set in style after converting her second of the three matchpoints, 6-4.
“I had to re-focus then,” Hingis said. “She was playing to my forehand which took me by surprise a bit. At one point, I even believed she had a chance. She is very talented, and I wish her a great career, ” Hingis moved on to praise her young opponent.
“I was very excited to play Martina. She is a great player, and I look up to her. I had taken a picture with her when I was 10, ” Poutchkova said.
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