Jankovic Janks Hingis out of Sydney

SYDNEY, Australia - Many players headed down under in the first week of the year to gain critical match practice for the rapidly-approaching Australian Open; furthermore, some of them excelled during their fresh beginnings. But in this, the second week, the effects of peaking too soon were apparent, as three of the four women who made finals last week were first round losers.

Two players who contested those finals, Jelena Jankovic and Martina Hingis, battled for over two hours on Monday, with the unseeded Jankovic prevailing over the No.5-seeded Hingis, 64 46 63. Jankovic, who won in Auckland, was a few games away from closing it out in two sets, going up 4-2 in the second; but Gold Coast finalist Hingis rallied back and pushed the match to a third set. It was to no avail, however, as the Serb regrouped to win the third.

"I just came from Auckland so I didn't have much time to recover, but I was quite proud of how I managed to pull through," said Jankovic, whose victory over world No.7 Hingis was her seventh career Top 10 victory. "I've had better wins, but obviously it's a great win and gives me a lot of confidence."

"Pretty much everyone is here; it's an amazing draw," stated Hingis on the depth of the Sydney field. "Well, at least I'll get a few days off."

Hingis' conqueror at Gold Coast and Jankovic's victim in the Auckland final both fell at the first hurdle as well, and both to Australian wild cards. A tiring Dinara Safina fell to veteran Nicole Pratt, 46 63 62, while Auckland runner-up Vera Zvonareva was ousted by doubles No.1 Samantha Stosur, 61 64.

"Obviously I knew she was in good form coming in from winning the Gold Coast but I also knew she'd be a little tired, so I wanted to take advantage of that and make it a physical contest," Pratt said.

Pratt's win over the No.10-ranked Safina is her second career Top 10 victory after a 64 61 win over then-No.10 Sandrine Testud at Birmingham in 2002.

Other winners were No.6 seed Elena Dementieva, who ousted Ai Sugiyama, 67(3) 76(3) 60; No.7 seed Patty Schnyder, who outlasted Vera Dushevina, 63 46 63; Tatiana Golovin, who beat Peng Shuai, 64 75; Katarina Srebotnik, who downed Elena Bovina, 63 61; and Yuliana Fedak, who downed Marion Bartoli, 76(2) 62.

Tuesday's schedule is highlighted by the first appearances of the four high seeds, namely No.1 Amélie Mauresmo (who begins against Golovin), No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova (who drew Srebotnik), No.3 Clijsters (who plays Pratt), and No.4 Nadia Petrova (who takes on Ana Ivanovic). (WTA)