Hingis v Mirza Dream Match in India

KOLKATA, India -- Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza didn't have it easy by any means, but both managed straight set victories Friday to line up a heavily-anticipated Saturday semifinal at the $175,000 Sunfeast Open.

Hingis, the top seed at the Tier III event, topped an unseeded Tamarine Tanasugarn in the feature Friday evening match, 75 62. Despite her opponent's No.125 ranking, Hingis didn't underestimate the looming clash; after all, the Thai veteran has four Top 10 victories to her credit. But after losing the first three games of the match, the Swiss began rallying with more consistency and depth, eventually improving her record to 4-0 lifetime against Tanasugarn.

"In the beginning she wasn't making mistakes; I was hitting with pace and she was making it happen," said Hingis, who saved set points against Tanasugarn in one of their previous encounters. "Suddently it was 0-3 and I knew I had to do something. I changed my strategy and tried to hit down the middle a bit more, just keep the ball in play and get into the match. This started to work and she started to make more errors."

Next up for Hingis will be No.5 seed Mirza, who fought past No.4 seed Aravane Rezai, 64 75. Mirza clawed her way out of a 4-1 second set hole for the win.

"I always play better when I'm down," said the Indian icon afterwards. "My father jokes that I should go down 3-0 in the first set of every match as a strategy!"

Hingis and Mirza will play for the second time. The Swiss won, 63 75, in the first round of Dubai earlier this year, but not without some trouble: three times, she was ahead by a break in the second set but failed to consolidate with a hold.

"You could feel that everyone was building up to this match," Hingis said. "I hope we can make it a great match for everybody. I also hope that I'll be able to find a few friends out there!"

Also grabbing semifinal berths were Russian teen Olga Poutchkova and former Top 20 player Iroda Tulyaganova. Poutchkova defeated Italy's Alberta Brianti, 75 63, while Tulyaganova, a qualifier this week, rallied past another Russian, Alla Kudryavtseva, 46 62 62.

"As long as I play my best and get something from each match, I'm satisfied," said Poutchkova, who will play her first Tour semifinal. "I'm happy to be in the semis but I try to focus on my game not just the result."

"I'm going to try to win the title but I have a tough match tomorrow against a good Russian girl and if I win this, possibly a match with Hingis, so that would be very tough," said Tulyaganova, a former world No.16 who has been plagued by injuries the last few years. The Uzbek is playing her first Tour event of 2006.
-- WTA