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Tuesday, January 23
Hingis faces first real test against Serena
Reuters

MELBOURNE, Australia -- Switzerland's Martina Hingis faces her first real challenge at this year's Australian Open when she takes on American teenager Serena Williams in Wednesday's quarterfinals.

The Williams sisters could potentially meet in the semifinals. Serena Williams faces her biggest obstacle so far against No. 1 seed Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals. Venus Williams faces Amanda Coetzer in her quarterfinal.

The sisters also are doing well in doubles having reached the quarterfinals where they will face Anna Kournikova and Barbara Schett. Should they win, they'll go on to meet Kournikova's former doubles partner Hingis and her new partner, Monica Seles, in the semifinals.

The world No. 1 hasn't lost a match all year and has won each of her first four matches at the Open in straight sets but knows she will have her work cut out to beat Serena.

"I think if I'm playing well I have the chance to beat anybody out there," Hingis said.

"You have to go out there and be hungry and try to do the best every time."

Despite finishing 2000 as the number one ranked player, Hingis hasn't won a grand slam singles title in two years.

She beat Serena in a warm-up event in Sydney earlier this month but lost to her in the 1999 U.S. Open final, the only time they've met in the majors.

Hingis's biggest problem is her size.

She is widely recognized as the cleverest player in the women's game but doesn't have the same power and strength of the Williams sisters or Lindsay Davenport, the woman who beat her in last year's Australian Open final.

Serena, ranked sixth in the world, hasn't been as impressive as Hingis in winning her four matches so far but has been steadily improving and rates herself a strong chance of winning.

Hitting better
The booming serves that were catching the tape and the powerful groundstrokes that were drifting past the baseline just a week ago are now starting to find their mark.

"This tournament is far from over," 17-year-old Hingis said. "I'm playing a little better, I'm feeling a lot better. A lot of people would pretty much kill to do what I've done."

Interest in their match has been heightened because the winner is likely to play Venus Williams in the semifinals as long as she can get over South African Amanda Coetzer as expected.

Big sister Venus missed last year's Australian Open because of injury but won the Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Olympic titles.

She finished the year ranked only three in the world because she played far fewer events than Hingis and arrived at Melbourne Park without having played a singles match in three months.

Not surprisingly, she was a little rusty in her first few matches but has steadily improved the farther she has gone and made it through to the quarters with a three set victory against 1999 finalist Amelie Mauresmo.

She has beaten Coetzer six times in seven meetings and while she insists she won't be underestimating her opponent in Wednesday's quarterfinals, she did admit she was already looking ahead.

"When people tend to get to big matches people tend to play either a lot better or a lot worse," she said. "Hopefully, I will always play a lot better."
 



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