Hantuchova def. Hingis 1-6, 6-4, 6-4.. :(

What a bizarre final set from Hingis, she went down an early break but clawed her way back to break for 4-4, then just threw in three of the strangest shots to give Daniela the break str8 back.

Entertaining to watch but frustrating for Hingis fans.

I only saw thst set and a half and i thought Hingis was in control :o great news for Hantuchova, she was threatening some good form in her recent match against Momo and a win like this should do her confidence the world of good :)

:( :( :(

Yeah, I must admit, I do like Daniela and she was hitting some cracking shots off both wings, but the overwhelming feeling from the match is that Martina just doesn't know how to respond anymore when the ball gets whacked into each corner. Although she did look to be hitting quite a bit harder herself, she would often throw up a short mid court ball for Daniela to pick off..

Congrats to Hantuchova and I hope she goes further. De good to see her back in the top 10

:o

my scoreboard has been on Jankovic 6-3 3-5 against Bondarenko for a while now, does anyone know if theis an injury or something?

oh hang on, its saying Jankovic has won now 6-3 6-3

oh bollocks :(

Yay Dani :D

I can't believe Martina lost from 6-1 4-1(30-30) up though :wacko:

did she? :wacko: I'm even more p'd now

Thank god Daniela won, only her second top 10 win since Zurich.......

Hingis though, my god :wacko:

Choke! roflmao

Hingis turning into the choke queen roflmao

I'm sorry, but that is so Novotna-esque roflmao

at least she didn't have match points I suppose roflmao

oh god, is martina getting the 'choke'?? she'll have to get rid of that or she's gonna find herself scampering off into retirement again :D :D :D

It's a bit shame about Hingis, but i do think her grand slam finals against jennifer capriati and graf, she showed she had become bit of a choker-well very slightly anyway, and that's a shame for a player of her standing.

Martina is not a choker.

not in an absolute sense no, but she lacks something at crucial moments against top players in significant tournaments-and i say this as a big fan of Hingis

Martina! :doh: :devil:

Jelena :clap:

Cant believe Hingis lost to Dani, I will need to change my name from Chokapova to Chokingis! roflmao

This I have to agree with as an ardent Hingis fan too.She is lacking something against the big names and its something we all cant seem to figure out!

What astounds me is that she use to eat people like Lindsay and Serena and Venus for lunch and they had their fair share of nibbling her.Big hitters never phased Martina though.Look at how she use to Mangle Monica.I think its a mental thing.

People have put to much emphasis on her serve and as a result its affecting her game to close out matches against names or even get on footing with them!

The thing is though Lindsay used to beat Martina more often than not even when Martina was world number one and she could only really get the edge on Venus and Serena before they "came of age."

But I do agree that it's amazing how much even Sania Mirza can blast her off the court these days :blink: I think it must be mental to a certain extent yes, she doesn't seem quite as hardened as she used to be somehow...lack of matches in recent years perhaps?

I think she needs a whole new coach and outlook. She has the GREATEST tennis mind of ANYONE on the tour at the moment... the power is obviously too much for her these days and I think she gets a little deflated when these balls come flying past her as she doesn't have as much.
I have seen an improvement recently but maybe recently she is concentrating too much on her power game and losing sight of her more natural game.

If she gets a new coach with a new outlook on technique for power maybe her whole game can be reworked a tad. I think Henin did it a couple of years ago with her forehand she is slighter than Hingis so no reason why Martina can't.
I'd SOOO love to see her win a grand slam again, I can just about see it with her playing how she does now but she would have to be at her absolute best every match in the latter stages.

I have to disagree with this!Their H2H stands at 14-11 in Davenports favour.Whilst Lindsay,when she won that maiden slam,went on a rampage she,they were quite evenly split in their victories.

Hingis before retirement was ruthless and I also have to disagree that she got the better of the Williams girls before they came of age.She before and after used to hand out beatings to them.

Hingis is in a mental fridge because of people,especially the media,with their over emphasis on power and her serve.I believe that if Hingis go's out there and plays like she has nothing to lose,will really trouble a lot of people.And really,she has nothing to lose,she has won everything.The only place where she should be worried is at Roland Garros where she would love to have that title.She needs to take risks in her tennis and just play freely.She keeps saying how she is just enjoying being on court,but its not coming through in her tennis.

I dont know if you guys agree!

Actually if you look at their head to heads from the time Martina was number one to the end of 1999 Lindsay leads their head to head 7-5 I think that qualifies more often than not :shrug:

And if you look at her head to heads with Williamses post coming of age i.e. slam wins:

Serena leads Martina 5-3 one of Martina's wins was a Serena retirement
Venus leads Martina 5-2.

So yes she could manage the odd win, but only when they were off key. Brilliant as Martina is, she is always going to really struggle a lot against the top power players.


I completely agree with what you say btw Trisco :ok:

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/playe...layer1ID=230220

That is the complete H2H With Venus.If you look at it closely,Venus MORE OFTEN THAN NOT,actually always struggles to beat Martina.Surprisingly,Hingis leads it as well!

7-5 has the difference of 2.Not a big margin but it is a winning lead but For Martina to get at least 5 out of those 12 indicates that she wasnt being gobbled up!She really could hack it with Lindsay and the sisters and she still can.

Trisco is so right.A fresh new look at her game and approach will do her a world of good.

That remark upsets me because you are basically saying that she couldnt go out and win a match against them unless their heads were in the clouds thinking about fashion and awards shows to attend.Its actually an insult to Martina's Tennis!

I never said Lindsay gobbled her up, I said Lindsay edged their rivalry, which she obviously does :ok:

And I pointed out post Venus' coming of age she beat Martina more often than not, whereas in Venus' earlier years on tour it was the other way round :ok:

Martina can hack it with them I know, Im just trying to make the point that Martina struggled against the top power players at their best even before she retired, don't you agree?

OMG! :rolleyes: Must you always try to put words into people's mouths! Im saying in that, Martina found it difficult to beat the powers players if they were playing their best, which she did :shrug:

She is an excellent tennis player, and possibly the best tactician the game has ever seen but she struggles against power, whats wrong with saying that? If Venus and Serena are playing well and making relatively low amounts of UEs, they can beat anyone including Martina. The original point I was making is that these days Martina seems to have more losses to other power players who aren't quite in the elite, like Safina for example. And I think the reason for these losses is mental as much as anything. As Trisco said, she needs a new out look :)

It shouldnt surprise you that I disagree with you coz its MORE OFTEN THAN NOT the case ;)

She only started struggling when people kept saying she is going to get blown off the court,her serve etc...Its a mental thing.She actually doesnt struggle with power hitters.She actually is battling herself out there!

I was using metaphors my friend not putting words in your mouth.Why must we always go at each other?Can you not be a bit more open minded!

Venus and Serena are in another league!You saw what they both did to Maria.Venus at Wimbers and Serena at the Aussie Open.And for that matter anyone.Its when its a bit personal they seem to go out there and want to prove the world wrong and thats why they go into Destroy mode.

Having said that,Hingis is struggling with power in her mind and thats where the real battle is happening.

Now I will agree with you who agrees with Trisco,a Fresh Outlook is needed.Lord,for once we are on some sort of common ground!

Exactly! This started happening in about 2000/2001. Im not sure what you're talking about with metaphors et al. as it's the strangest metaphor I've ever seen :rolleyes: Im perfectly open minded dark and if you read more carefully you'd probably see that we agree on most of what has been said about Hingis, it's just that, and I don't mean in this in a negative way, but you do sometimes misinterpret at first what people actually mean...