3rd Round
Anna Kournikova beaten by Martina Hingis
4:6, 6:4, 4:6
January 24, 1998
The 16-year-old Kournikova has lost to Hingis in three of her last four Grand Slam tournaments. Last year, she fell to the Swiss teen in the third round at the French Open and at the Wimbledon semifinals. Kournikova also lost twice to Hingis in the junior ranks and is still seeking her first victory over the world's top-ranked player. Today's match was the first time Kournikova was able to win a set from her older rival.
"I think that I showed myself that I can play her and play top players, and actually I'm pretty happy. I think I have done a good job. I was not nervous at all. I went for my shots and played my game."
"It was a good match, but it's always hard to play somebody who is around your age," Hingis said. "She's a very aggressive player. If you don't serve very well, especially on the first serves, she always attacks and comes in and she can do that pretty well. She hits the ball very flat and has a good serve, and she also tried to change it up and come in, and I had to run a lot today. I was the luckier player at the end."
The 17-year-old Hingis won 12 singles titles in 1997, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Lipton Championships, and took over the number one ranking from Germany's Steffi Graf. Despite those accomplishments, Hingis has watched Kournikova, who has never gotten past the semifinal round of any tournament, gain in popularity and praise.
"Everybody else is making the rivalry (between us)," said Hingis, who downplayed any animosity between the players. "We talk a lot together and we watched together the match of (Irina) Spirlea against (Serena) Williams. And at the players party we were dancing together and that was a lot of fun. Off court we are very good friends."
Kournikova had 34 winners, compared to 28 for her opponent, but committed 50 unforced errors. Hingis had 27 unforced errors, capitalized on six of 15 break points and took advantage of Kournikova's second serve -- winning 25 of 34 points when the Russian missed her first serve.
"Anna probably says she lost the match herself and not that I did anything special," Hingis said. "I just put the ball back in and she missed it. Usually I was the more aggressive player, but now it turned a little bit."
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