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Pan Pacific Open - Tokyo 2000
Quarterfinal
Anna Kournikova beaten by Martina Hingis
0:6, 2:6
February 4, 2000

 

 

The Swiss top seed barely gave Kournikova breathing room in this contest, the match lasted less than 50 minutes with the Russian weltering badly under the pressure. Hingis dominated play from the baseline and left Kournikova struggling to keep the ball in play during most rallies.

"I just played almost a perfect game today," said Hingis.

The first two games of the set were closely fought but Hingis was able to pull off an early service break while Kournikova may have been bothered by a crucial call that did not go her way. Immediately after winning the first set, Hingis gave Kournikova her best chance in the match by dropping serve in the first game of the second set. A packed crowd hoped that might be the start of a fightback from the Russian but it wasn't to be. At 30-0 up in the next game, Kournikova served badly at just the wrong time allowing Hingis to break straight back and coast the second set. Kournikova appeared bitterly disappointed afterwards. Still seeking her first singles title on the tour, overcoming Hingis would've given the Russian a great chance of ending that undesirable title-less statistic. Instead, Kournikova now has a 7-1 loosing record against the Swiss teen and today's loss was the most one-sided of them all.

"It is very difficult to play Martina when she gets up first of all, and even if she makes mistakes, she gets stronger," Kournikova said.

 

 

 


Find out more at Anna's offical website:
www.kournikova.com