Unconvincing Hingis beats Mirza to reach second round in Dubai

The7AM.com:


DUBAI: Martina Hingis produced an unconvincing display on her way to a 6-3 7-5 victory over India's Sania Mirza in the first round of the Dubai Open on Tuesday.

It was an uneven performance from the Swiss former world number one against an opponent who also failed to find any consistency before a rowdy sell-out crowd.

'I'm happy to be through, to be honest,' the 25-year-old told reporters. 'It wasn't the greatest match I've played, but I'm through.

'It felt like a soccer game out there but it didn't really bother me. Maybe in the past I would get annoyed by the crowd but today I just tried to go through it.

'But I just couldn't find my rhythm, coming from playing indoors. I came here Friday, but it always takes you a couple of matches.'

Hingis broke to 3-1 with a reflex volley at the net, only to drop serve in the next game to a crosscourt return before immediately regaining the lead with a dropshot.

Mirza held off two set points at 5-2 before Hingis fought off a break point at 5-3 and closed out on her fourth set point.

In the second set, Hingis broke three times but allowed Mirza to level on each occasion. Having failed to serve out the match at 5-4, Hingis broke again and secured the match.

'I felt I had the game under control and whenever I needed it I was able to step it up,' said Hingis, who humbled Maria Sharapova in Tokyo earlier this month to reach her first final since returning to the tour at the beginning of the year.

'I wasn't thinking that I was going to lose the set because I felt she always had ups and downs. So did I, but every time I needed it I knew I could pressure her.'

Hingis was noticeably slow around the court at times but put that down to her training programme.

'I came back home after Tokyo and was doing a lot of physical work and conditioning, and I think I overdid it a little bit and I'm still recovering,' she said.

Russian fifth seed Nadia Petrova fell 6-4 6-1 to compatriot Maria Kirilenko.

Seventh-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone defeated Virginie Razzano of France 6-4 6-4 while Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova took just 55 minutes to overwhelm German Martina Muller 6-2 6-0."