in Tennis Articles

Swiss Miss is back

Most athletes would have a lot of trouble shaking off the rust after three years of retirement. Not Martina Hingis.

The “Swiss Miss” made her return to Grand Slam tennis at the Australian Open with a bang, plowing through the first two rounds in straight sets while losing just five games. And her path to glory just got easier: No. 5 seed Mary Pierce would have faced Hingis in the third round, but instead was upset by Czech Iveta Benesova.

Hingis was listed at +8000 last month on the futures market to win the Aussie Open after she announced her intention to appear at Melbourne. Despite Pierce’s early departure, Hingis isn’t looking at a cakewalk from here on in. Her projected quarterfinal opponent: No. 2 Kim Clijsters, who was the early favorite at +300. However, with Clijsters suffering through back pain after hurting her hip in a warmup tournament, and with Hingis showing no ill effects from the chronic foot injuries that forced her retirement, things are looking up for the Swiss Miss.

Hingis has an outstanding history Down Under. She doesn’t have the power game that most associate with the hardcourt, but her uncanny accuracy with ground strokes and her touch around the net are nearly ideal for somewhat slower “Rebound Ace” surface used in Melbourne. Not only is Hingis a three-time Australian Open champion, beating Pierce in 1997, she also reached the finals six times in a row between 1997 and 2002.

As for the rust, it’s not as if Hingis has been sitting at home eating Swiss rolls. She played for the New York Sportimes on last year’s little-followed World Team Tennis tour, racking up an 18-1 record. She also played in two warm-up tournaments prior to Melbourne, reaching the semifinals at Gold Coast and losing to world No. 6 Justine Henin-Hardenne at Sydney. That schedule appears to have been ample enough to prepare Hingis for her return.

Over on the men’s draw, the big story Thursday was the elimination of Aussie favorite Lleyton Hewitt in four sets by Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina. In addition to the challenge of being a new father, Hewitt was also fighting off an ankle injury and barely survived a draining five-set win over up-and-coming Czech Robin Vik in the first round.

Not that the former No. 1 player in the world was given much of a chance to win on his native soil (+1800 on the futures market, to be exact). Roger Federer is still the man to beat, and he looked as dominant as ever in the first two rounds, winning in straight sets both times while dropping only 12 games. Federer was listed at –150 in the futures market back in December; however, although the Swiss sensation is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competition (posting an 81-4 record in his 2005), the men’s draw is one of the deepest in recent memory. Federer may not have such an easy time in 2006 after all.

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