Hingis Rolls in Homecountry Zurich Opener

ZURICH, Switzerland -- Martina Hingis continued on Monday where she left off six years ago on the way to her first Zurich Open title. The former world No.1 overwhelmed Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the first nine games, but eased up after holding a 60 30 lead. Groenefeld climbed back into the match but couldn't take the lead from the Swiss comeback queen, who prevailed 60 75 at Hallenstadion.

"It's great to be back playing here after six years," said No.5-seeded Hingis, who faces either Nathalie Dechy or lucky loser Jarmila Gajdosova in the second round. "I've got to try and defend my title, since I won here the last time in 2000. But it's really nice to stay at home and play in front of friends and people you know very well."

Hingis made her first appearance here as a 14-year-old, receiving a wild card for the main draw. While she didn't make it past the second round in her first two appearances, she managed to reach the final in 1996 and 1999. In her last Zurich appearance, she finally captured the title, eliminating Anastasia Myskina, Jennifer Capriati and Lindsay Davenport.

Groenefeld, who has not reached a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour quarterfinal since July (Stanford), attributed her loss to a slow start. The German made error after error in the first set and dropped it after only 21 minutes.

"I let her get ahead too quickly," Groenefeld said. "I wasn't able to be aggressive in the first set and that really hurt me. I tried to come back in the second set, but she was just too good today."

Katarina Srebotnik also proved too much to handle for her first round opponent, Mary Pierce. The Slovenian defeated the 1995 Zurich Open finalist, 63 75, to set up a meeting with No.4-seeded Elena Dementieva.

Tsvetana Pironkova, Meilen Tu, Timea Bacsinszky and Maria Elena Camerin won their qualifying matches on Monday. On Tuesday, 2002 champion and No.6 seed Patty Schnyder, No.7 Nicole Vaidisova and No.8 Francesca Schiavone play the night session.
-- WTA