Hingis Not the Flavia of the Week in Gold Coast

Posted on January 6, 2006

GOLD COAST, Australia - The final at the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts is set with an 18-year-old upstart taking on a feisty 23-year-old Italian.

The Italian, No. 4 seed Flavia Pennetta, was responsible for stopping the much-touted comeback of the "Swiss Miss," Martina Hingis, in Friday's semis in a three-set encounter that lasted one hour, 47 minutes.

At the start of the match, Pennetta was visibly tense, dropping the first set 6-1.

"I wasn’t so nervous before the match, but when I went on court it hit me who I was playing," said Pennetta, who looked up to Hingis growing up. "I didn’t play so well in the first set, but then I managed to calm down and play my game."

After getting over her nerves, Pennetta held 2-0 and 3-1 leads in the second set, but Hingis' never-give-up attitude gave her a 6-5 lead and a chance to serve for the a place in the final. An unlucky double fault from Hingis at 15-40 took the set to a tie-break, which Pennetta raced through to force a third set.

Pennetta dominated in the third set as Hingis struggled with her movement after suffering a left hip flexor strain at 4-all in the second set. As Hingis' game declined, the Italian eventually closed out the match, 16 76(2) 62.

"I started well in the second set, with a 3-1 lead, but she came back again. When she served for the match at 6-5, I still believed I could win. I just told myself to fight," Pennetta said. "It’s a wonderful feeling to beat such a great champion, but this is Martina’s comeback tournament, so I’m sure she will only get better."

Hingis' analysis on this week's performance: "If I would evaluate this tournament right away, I'm very happy. I'm very positive with what I've achieved this week, and I don't think anybody expected me to (have these results) this week, so it's very good."

Hingis had originally been planned to leave Gold Coast on Thursday, but since she made it into the semis, she'll leave Saturday for next week's Medibank International in Sydney.

Pennetta, though, will have another round in Gold Coast and now goes for her fourth career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, taking on a Czech teen who turned heads this week with impressive upset wins.

Lucie Safarova first surprised Gold Coast fans on Sunday, when she upset No.6 seed and 2004 Gold Coast champion Ai Sugiyama. Then, on Thursday night, the talented teen scored her career-best win over world No.7 and defending champion Patty Schnyder. Safarova's wave of momentum continued as she beat world No.20 and No.3 seed Dinara Safina, 64 62, less than 24 hours later. The Czech's impeccable returning and powerful serving had her in the driver’s seat from the start of the match as Safina became increasingly frustrated in her inability to break her opponent down. Now, the 18-year-old and world No.47 is in her fourth career Tour final.

Not bad for someone who just made her Tour main draw debut this time last year.

"I didn’t expect to do so well in the first tournament of the year, but I think I’ve played my best tennis this week," Safarova said. "I’ve beaten some good players here – Patty last night, a Top 10 player, and now Safina today, who’s in the Top 20."

It’s great to be in another final. It makes me nervous but also excited to play a final; it’s very special. Of course I believe that I can win tomorrow. If you don’t believe, there is no reason to play."

In the past year, Safarova has gone 2-1 in Tour finals, winning titles at Estoril and Forest Hills and finishing runner-up at 's-Hertogenbosch.

The Czech teen will certainly want to upgrade on her Tour titles with a career-first Tier III crown but will have tough opposition from Pennetta, whom she has never played.

Pennetta is also coming off a strong 2005 season, in which she won back-to-back Tier III claycourt titles at Bogota and Acapulco, going 20-26 on clay, and the No.23-ranked Italian is no slouch in doubles either. In fact, she nearly reached both finals this week.

Teaming with Anabel Medina Garrigues as the No.3 seeds, they held two match points against No. 2 seeds Safina and Meghann Shaughnessy, who eventually prevailed 9-7 in a third-set tie-break after Pennetta missed a forehand at 6-5 in the tie-break.

Safina and Shaughnessy are playing together for only the second time. They reached the final the first time they played together - at 2004 Sydney, where coincidentally they lost to Cara Black and Rennae Stubbs, their opponents in Saturday’s doubles final.

The top-seeded team of Black and Stubbs received a walkover in the semis from the team of Hingis and Tatiana Golovin after Hingis withdrew due to her hip injury.

Saturday's final day starts at 11:30 a.m. with the singles final followed by the doubles final. (WTA)