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| January 09, 2007 | Tuesday | Zilhaj 18, 1427 |
Hingis comes off second best to Jankovic
SYDNEY, Jan 8: Martina Hingis says she will head to Melbourne feeling fresher for next week's Australian Open after being dumped out of the Sydney International by in-form Jelena Jankovic in the first round here on Monday.
The five-time Swiss Grand Slam champion ran into 12th-ranked Jankovic in peak form after the Serb's second career singles title win in Auckland last weekend and went out 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in just under two hours of high-quality tennis.
Jankovic is one of the rising stars of women's tennis, rising from 22 to 12 in the 2006 rankings and losing to world No.1 Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semi-finals of last year's US Open.
It is the second straight year that 26-year-old Hingis has bumped into a tough first-round opponent in Sydney, losing to Henin-Hardenne in 2006.
“Pretty much everybody is here, so it's an amazing draw, with her winning last week,” three-time Australian Open champion Hingis said. “I thought it would be a great match and good to have it, unfortunately I lost, but it could have been in straight sets. I still came back and won the second, so endurance-wise it definitely was good to play three sets going into Melbourne... I should be fresh and ready to go there. I always take the positive out of a loss.”
Hingis, who lost to Russian Dinara Safina in last week's Gold Coast final, might feel fresh, but 21-year-old Jankovic was exhausted after her win and called for the trainer after losing the second set, complaining of dizziness.
Jankovic played some exceptional tennis and feels she has seamlessly carried her strong form from the second half of last year into the new season ahead of the year's opening Grand Slam tournament.
In five months I became No.12 in the world and until May I don't have many points to defend. If I can keep going like this I can really improve in the rankings and I showed today I can beat any player and just enjoy my tennis.”
Jankovic's next opponent is Australian Samantha Stosur, ranked 27, who posted a 6-1, 6-4 win over Russian Vera Zvonareva.
In Monday's other first-round matches, Tatiana Golovin set up an all-French second round match with top seed Amelie Mauresmo after a 6-4, 7-5 win over China's Peng Shuai.
Swiss seventh-seed Patty Schnyder downed Russia's Vera Dushevina in three sets and Slovenia Katarina Srebotnik outclassed Russian Elena Bovina 6-3, 6-1.
Srebotnik will now face second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in the second round.—AFP
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