Hingis v Ivanovic in Rain-Delayed Monday Montreal Final

MONTREAL, Canada -- Martina Hingis will have a chance to capture the second Tier I title of her comeback in Montreal Monday as she faces Ana Ivanovic in the final of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.

Hingis, seeded No.7, advanced to the final on Saturday afternoon when Anna Chakvetadze retired trailing 63 31 with a right forearm strain. Playing in her first Tier I semifinal, Chakvetadze looked as though she was going to give Hingis a run early, hanging tough with the former No.1 through the first several games. But as the set went on it grew increasingly apparent that she was struggling, and shortly after calling for a medical timeout trailing 4-2 and dropping the first set, she decided to stop playing.

"I wanted to retire in the end of the set, but then I felt okay, so I tried to play; but if something's bothering you, you can't play," Chakvetadze said. "I felt it yesterday and had treatment, but it wasn't bad and in practice I felt okay. But in the start of the first set I felt something wrong with my hand. It was really stiff and hurting when I served and hit forehands."

Chakvetadze's fighting spirit, which has taken her to impressive wins this week against the likes of Nadia Petrova, Nathalie Dechy and Shahar Peer, came through Saturday as she continued to play despite apparent injury distress, an injury trainers told her afterwards would take less than a week to heal.

"I thought I could win; if I didn't, I'd never go to the court," Chakvetadze added. "And I told Martina that the next time I'll be ready, and it'll be a tougher match. I'm really sad, because I knew I could be in the finals."

"It's kind of disappointing to win a match like this," Hingis stated, "but she continued so you still have to keep the focus, because you don't know how much it's hurting and how much she still can play. I had never played her before. And those down-the-line backhands were really quite impressive."

With the victory, Hingis moved into her third final of the season, having finished runner-up at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] and capturing the title at Rome. Coincidentally, both are Tier I events, just like here in Montreal. This is her third final in six appearances at this event, her 21-3 record including two title runs (1999, 2000), and now a chance at a third title, six years after her last.

Hingis' championship challenger was determined on Sunday, as a No.13-seeded Ivanovic put the finishing touches on a quick 61 64 victory over No.9 seed Dinara Safina. The two heavy-hitters began their match Saturday night, but were forced to stop play with Safina leading 4-3 in the second set due to rainfall. On Sunday, Ivanovic needed only 12 minutes to reel off the last three games, reaching her career-first Tier I final, and just her second overall final, having won the Tier V title in Canberra last January.

"We had to be here the whole morning so I think it was a little bit hard, but it was the same for both of us," Ivanovic stated. "I'm really happy the way I played these three games because it was important and I'm just happy I took the opportunities I had and I could win this match. It feels much better."

Hingis and Ivanovic will be playing for the first time. The Swiss has a lot of praise for the emerging star's form; the Serb has expressed a lot of respect for the former world No.1's comeback success.

"I've never played Ana; she's a very good player, a very high potential," Hingis said of Ivanovic. "She has definitely been impressive this week. You can see that she's training hard, she has the fitness and a new coach and it must be working for her, so those are the results so far."

"I'm really excited about this match because obviously she's a great player and just to come back like she did I think it's amazing," Ivanovic added. "She's playing some good tennis at the moment and it's going to be a very tough match for me, but I'm just going to try and take the opportunities I have and try to play aggressive my game and she will need to work hard to beat me."

Both finalists will make ranking improvements this week. Hingis assured herself of a Top 10 return by virtue of reaching the semifinals, but by reaching the final, win or lose, she will rise from No.12 to No.9. Ivanovic has also solidified a move, from No.19 to No.17, regardless of her performance in this final. The Serbian teenager will be just one spot off of her career-high of No.16.

Additionally, both players have a shot at heading into the last leg of the US Open Series as the Lever 2000 Challenge Standings Leader; Monday's champion will be No.1 in the race while the runner-up will be No.4; San Diego champion Maria Sharapova will be No.2, while Stanford winner Kim Clijsters stays No.3.

Similar to the singles results, the first doubles semifinal was completed in a timely manner while the second one was forced into Sunday's schedule. Martina Navratilova and Nadia Petrova continued to roll in their first tournament together, beating fellow unseeded team Marion Bartoli and Shahar Peer, 63 63. The Saturday evening match between No.2 seeds Cara Black and Anna-Lena Groenefeld and No.4 seeds Safina and Katarina Srebotnik was pushed to Sunday, and as the rains kept falling, it was forced indoors, with Black and Groenefeld winning, 62 62. Both finalists are playing together for the first time this week.
-- WTA