Martina Hingis was accorded a traditional Indian welcome as she arrived in Kolkata on Friday to take part in the second edition of the USD 1.75 lakh WTA Sunfeast Open Tournament that begins from September 18.
The World number 9 'Swiss Miss', who created a sensation by becoming the youngest Wimbledon champion at the age of 16 years and nine months, flew in to the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport accompanied by her mother and personal support staff.
Chaos reigned for some time outside the airport terminal as a large posse of lenspersons and electonic media personnel rushed for vantage positions to capture the footage of the tennis star on her maiden visit to India.
The situation worsened as the police threw a security cordon around Hingis which infuriated the mediapersons, who complained that the cops had blocked their view of the former world number one singles player.
After sanity was restored, Hingis was driven to the hotel where again a near scuffle broke out between the police and the media contingent.
Hingis, however, seemed in high spirits, and watched the happenings with a smile.
At the hotel, she was garlanded, and tilak was applied on her forehead.
The Slovakia-born player, who turns 27 on September 30, will feature only in the singles draw in the tournament.
Hingis -- known for her sharp ground strokes, good anticipation and outstanding net play - has won 41 singles and 36 doubles titles and became the youngest player to grab the number one spot at the age of 16 years and six months.
India's Sania Mirza will be seeded fourth for the Kolkata tourney with her WTA ranking dropping to 70.
Sania, who was the third seed in last year's edition of the tournament, will now be seeded behind Hingis, Croatian Karolina Sprem (50) and Yuliana Fedak (64) of Ukraine.
