Hingis Wins Battle and War of Words

Venus Williams was talking to the ball, yelling the word out at it when it flew long and praising it when she served an ace.

Martina Hingis led some cheers of her own, letting loose a shout when she hit a forehand volley winner in a second-set tiebreaker against Williams.

Bring the noise.

But that was nothing compared to the verbal jousting from the two 17-year-olds after Hingis defeated Williams, 6-0, 7-6 (9-7), in the semifinals of the State Farm Evert Cup on Friday at Grand Champions Resort.

If the No. 12-ranked Williams is supremely confident, then Hingis is off the scale, making some of the youngsters in the NBA, look shy. After Williams knocked a backhand long on Hingis’ second match point, Hingis jumped in the air and dashed over to hug her mother at courtside.

Not the usual semifinal celebration.

Williams, who played a superb second set, remained unshaken in her belief that she and sister Serena eventually will hold the top two spots on the WTA tour.

“I think so,” she said. “That’s our plan. We don’t see anyone else--or we don’t want anyone else to try to stop us.

The No. 1-ranked Hingis looked surprised when informed of that statement.

“She said it again?” Hingis asked. “Nothing new anymore. Well, so far she’s not. One day if I’m probably not playing anymore, she could get there.”

Then again, Hingis has walked the walk, winning four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments and holding the No. 1 spot for almost a year.

Clearly, Hingis raises her game to another level when playing the likes of Venus Williams and Anna Kournikova. Lindsay Davenport, who will play Hingis in the final today and beat her the last time they played, probably has handled it best by not providing any bulletin-board material.

Hingis admitted that victories over Williams are more satisfying.

“Of course,” she said. “Nobody would like to lose against players like this, especially when they’re saying they’re going to be No. 1. So far I’m at that place. Lindsay’s No. 2. We’re in the finals again. They have to improve yet.”

Said Williams: “Serena and I are doing our best to learn what to do during matches, to get better and get more experience. We still have a ways to go. It should be easier for Serena to come through, since I was the first one. Ultimately, I think we have all the skills it will take. I just can’t see anyone being better than us in the future.”

Williams endured a particularly erratic first set, winning only one point in her first two service games, watching her forehand fly all over the stadium. After losing the opening set in 20 minutes, she grew steadier and incorporated some patience in her powerful baseline game.

She had five serves clocked at more than 115 mph, including two of 121. After the fifth game of the second set, Williams had an injury timeout, saying she was bothered by her right elbow.

The injury didn’t appear to trouble Williams as she broke Hingis in the seventh game to get back on serve. They stayed on serve and went to a tiebreaker. Down, 6-5, in the tiebreaker, Williams erased the first match point against her, hitting a penetrating forehand to the corner that Hingis could not handle. Two points later, Williams had a set point, but Hingis hit a service winner.

Then Williams hit a backhand in the net, and another long and the match was over. Hingis avenged her loss to Williams in January at Sydney, in a tuneup for the Australian Open. “She’s going to be very dangerous if she’s going to play like this,” Hingis said of Williams.

Hingis, always the student, did some extra homework, watching Davenport and Steffi Graf on Thursday night.

“Lindsay hit very hard ground strokes,” Hingis said. “Steffi was just slicing back. Actually, the forehand cross-courts they were hitting so hard. I was like, ‘OK, what am I going to do if I’m going to play one of these players?’ I’m just not going to let [Davenport] play the forehand, hopefully.”

Hingis will figure it out. Just ask her.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s

Featured

Matches

STADIUM COURT (11 a.m.)

* Martina Hingis, Switzerland

vs. Lindsay Davenport.

* Thomas Muster, Austria

vs. Greg Rusedski, England.

* Jan-Michael Gambill

vs. Marcelo Rios, Chile.