Hingis beaten, drops
out of top 10
Barry Wood
Martina Hingis will drop out of the world's top 10 for the first time in six years next week after losing 6-3, 6-1 to Russia's Elena Dementieva in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Thursday.
The four-times champion -- last ranked outside the top 10 in September 1996 -- was unable to respond adequately to the power of her opponent.
After dropping a closely contested first set the seventh-seeded Swiss barely mounted a challenge in the second.
Dementieva struggled with her serve at times, double-faulting twice in the second game, once in the fourth game and twice more in the sixth.
But with only three games going with serve in the first set, her powerful groundstrokes gave her the edge.
A lengthy bathroom break by Dementieva at the end of the first set appeared to leave Hingis cold when play resumed, and she won just three points in the first three games of the second set.
Looking flat, she allowed Dementieva to completely dominate the remainder of the 61-minute match.
FEW MOMENTS
"There were a few moments in the first set where it was very close and a few balls were very important," said Dementieva, who also beat Hingis in Moscow last year.
"It was a good match. In the beginning I was serving not so good, but I always start very slow.
"I know she just came back from the injury and it's a tough time for her, but I think she's getting better and she's going to be in good shape soon."
Hingis has struggled since returning from ankle surgery. She was off the tour from May until August after tearing ligaments in her left ankle, and that followed a similar injury to her right ankle, suffered a year ago in Filderstadt, which also needed surgery.
"Physically I'm feeling better but there are still ups and downs," said Hingis.
"I feel quite a bit better than last week and for six games I was able to keep it up, and after that I was a little flat, a little tired. But there was no reason for that. A match lasts two sets, not just six games.
"I played pretty well until a certain point, and then I was rushing too much and trying to make the points too quickly. In the second set it was more like a blackout. I just started hitting and wasn't really thinking much out there about what I was doing."
There were no such problems for sixth seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium, who swept aside Croatia's Iva Majoli 6-1, 6-2 in just 51 minutes.
