Gold Coast Final: (2) Dinara Safina DEF (1) Martina Hingis 6-3 3-6 7-5

go Dinara :bounce: :worship: :woohoo:

Far out!!! The game finished like 1 second ago... :eek:

NNNNNOOOOOO Martina! :sad:

damn. :(

congratulations dinara!!! im so happy for her :D:D:D:bounce:

bad luck martina :hug:

:woohoo: dinara kicked martina's ass :devil:

im disappointed!!

I am SO disappointed. Hell of a time to commit her second double-fault. Looked like a very exciting match, though.

Oafette ;) :woohoo: :yeah: :)

Dinara :)

I know im watching it live

Wow close match.
Martina :sad:

:woohoo:

Dinara :banana:

Now time for :zzz: :lol:

Excellent, Martina. Keep it up on those breakpoint conversions and those wonderful errors. If all goes well, you could lose 1st round at the Australian Open. :bounce:

I am so proud of Dinara for winnig this she is awesome

Martina :(
Seemed like a good match though.

Well done Dinara :) :D
Played a very good match, especially set one :worship:


Martina :mad: :sad:
That serve :help:

yikes Dinara! :woohoo: what a fight! :hearts:
congrats - way to consoliday your place in the Top10 :drool: :banana:

:bigcry:

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

Two very good finals to kick the season off.

Well done Dinara! :)

Dinara :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: Congrats !!!!!!

Lovely, just a lovely and magnificent win, Dinara! :worship:

YEAH! Well done, Dina!

:lol: :lol: Hingis is such a douche :lol: Hingis' last service game was crap. This loss has to hurt her pride heading into the Australian Open.

Congrats Dinara. It was nice to see you get back at Hingis for the Rome loss last year.

Martina:sad:

Finally a win against Marti for Dinara

:speakles:

I didn't think she had it in her.

Good job, Dina! :yeah:

Dinara! :D :banana:

People are figuring out Hingis already.

She's not in control vs. the power players.

congrats dinara :clap2: a well earnt victory & memorable week to remember :yeah: she was just on fire & hit some amazing winners to blind martina :D this puts in good stead going into sydney & the AO. plus she's back in the top 10 :)

commiserations martina :hug: but you still had a great week here & you went one better than last year at least. great effort & i'm sure you'll only get better as time goes on :clap2:

Derek - 7-5 in the third, is figured out? Riiiight.


Good match from both, but Hingis will bounce back.

DINARA SAFINA! :worship:

such a great battle. congratulations. :D

she was so damn gutsy! :eek:

:lol: :lol: Hingis is a douche :lol:
Oh, okay.

But yeah, not a loss that Martina should have, especially on her best surface. This can't help matters heading into the AO.

thats too bad

Dina :D:D:D

Martina is such a class act...she gave this Tier III title to her, knowing that Dinara wouldn't win anything bigger anytime soon.:p

:woohoo: dinara kicked martina's ass :devil:

:eek: :devil: :hearts: :drool:

:hearts:

I'm sad for Martina, but congrats to Dinara.

:yeah: Nice Dinara. :yeah:

:hug: Martina :hug:

Well done Dinara. :D

That backhand was on fire. :drool:

Hingis tried her all using her game from last year.
That's not enough.
She's absolutely has to work on getting that inside-out forehand stronger so she can open up the court.

Dinara :woohoo: :banana:

Martina :hug:

DINARA! :D :rocker2:

amazing, amazing effort. she showed such grit and determination in that 5-5 game, you could tell she wanted this.

once again, hingis beats up on the scrubs and bows out to a hard-hitter.

welcome back to the top ten, dinara. well deserved. :worship:

Pity Martina. Lots of chances.
Congrats Dina.
Solid match as a whole.

dinara :banana:

:woohoo:

WTF. Tina. :rolleyes:

Well done Oafette.

Dinara :bounce: :woohoo: :yeah:

it was a great match but safina just had to much power in the end:(

unlucky martina

dinara :)

What an amazing match! :bigclap:

Dinara is well deserved win the title! :worship:

Wow, I'm impressed with Dinara.

Physically, she was gone. She'd played for over 2 hours yesterday in singles, then played doubles later that night. And at the start of the third today, she lost her technique on serve. And she was struggling every service game while Martina held with relative ease. How she won I'll never know.

And nice to see both players so friendly after. This was the first time I'd seen Martina give a speech in her comeback, and she's loosened up a lot. Maybe it's the engagement, I don't know.

well well well... :eek:

congratulations Dina-Baby, great win :D :cool:

commiserations Ms Hingis.

Dinara! I am sooo happy she won. Another notable scalp and a great way to reenter the top ten. Hopefully she can stay there awhile. It's possible, she only has to defend a 2r place at the Oz Open. Let's see what she can do.
Great fight, deserved title! :)

Great win Dinara :yeah:
Martina :hug:

Physically, she was gone. She'd played for over 2 hours yesterday in singles, then played doubles later that night. And at the start of the third today, she lost her technique on serve. And she was struggling every service game while Martina held with relative ease. How she won I'll never know.

Yeah, I noticed that too.

I thought she may have been cramping, since she no leg drive what so ever.

Congrats Dinara! What a huge win and revenge for last year in Rome and IW.

Good tournament, Martina. I hope you have a great AO.

Oddly Hingis's best set was the last set, serve wise, but it fell short of what was needed.

Kudos to Dinara! Great effort.

Marti :sad:

While i'm disappointed, Dinara played SO well today! SO well - that backhand down the line was just not missing at all, even when pushed back and off-balance... very very impressive!

Marti i thought played quite aggressive - the second serve for the first half of the match was quite deep and better than i've seen it for a while. I don't think this loss will affect her too much, it may in fact help leading into the Aussie Open - she was far too cruisy in this tournament anyway.

And what a ceremony - probably the funniest i've seen (except for Marti at the 97 Aussie where she just had no idea).

Marti Everyone should keep an eye out for Dinara, she may even turn out to be better than her brother.

I hope he's not watching.

Dinara Yes he's watching.

Marti Oh well whatever.

And then during Dinara's speech.

Marti See you in Sydney.

Dinara (not hearing her properly) What's that, we could meet each other in 2nd round Sydney.

Marti No no no. See you in Sydney.

Dinara What's that... she doens't know what she's talking about (laughter).

Well maybe this isn't exact but it's close enough... very funny and these two seem to get along quite well.

:lol:

On a serious note though, while Marti did attack a lot today, her backhand down the line hardly helped her out today and i a previous poster was spot on when they said she's gotta get better on that inside out forehand... there were some bad misses today. But she'll get there.

Still confident of a strong showing in Sydney and then Melbourne. :bounce:

Congratulations to Dinara. Shes come close a few times to beating Martina,and this time -- the right time -- shr pulled it off. She must be very happy.

Martina :sad:

Congrats to Dinara. Nice way to start the new year.

ughhh and Martina had a break point at 4-4

better luck in Sydney!

Dinarik :woohoo::woohoo:
what a start to the new season :D:D:D
and Hingis got her ass kicked :devil::drool::rocker:

dinara hung in there like a champ...in the second set she looked like she was gonna colapse from all the wind she was sucking but to her credit she won and broke at love in the last game to boot...

I only wish she could have done this in Rome last year.

Excellent job Dinara. Maybe that will quiet the Hingis as a favorite in Melbourne talk a little.

:)

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/935/image2pl6.jpg

Dinara :woohoo: :woohoo:

Hingis lost fair and square, and Dinara deserved the win, but this whole "Hingis got her ass stomped" nonsense is just ridiculous. It was 7-5 in the third. :shrug:

Do you think it's possible to make russian dolls based on the tennis players?
The ones that are hollow and fit inside one another?
You could have Safina then Shara then Dement then Kuznetseva and the others.:lol:

Martina :sad:

Dinara was awesome. I think both will have great results at the Open. I can't wait to see them in Sydney!

DINARA!!!!!!!! :hearts: CONGRATS!

:( Hingis

Yeah, the whole, "Hinigs got her ass kicked" thing is quite a laugh! :wavey:

Martina :sad:
A bit off today, still you fought hard out there! Overall good week but I am NOT happy about Sydney 1st RD! :mad: Just Do your best!

Congrats Dinara! :worship:

Simply outplayed Martina on all the Really important points! 100% deserved the win!

Marti :(

omg martina!!!!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!!

she wasted so so so so so so many break points it isn't funny. she wasn't playing anywhere near her best, but i have to credit Dinara for hanging in there, her backhand was very solid and won her some points. i loved Marti's finesse and drop shots, really missed those.

Safina is playing great

Not a bad loss, but I guess would have been better if she won it.

congrats dinara :D :bigclap: :bounce:

:yawn:

i actually don't care at all, i was just hoping she would win or lose quickly and not in a marathon match. five matches here and another few in sydney might be too much tennis leading into the aussie open for martina. i hope she doesn't tire herself out or peak too early (although as this match shows, she still has a few kinks to work out)

Congrats to Dinara! Not a bad tournament from Martina, hope she does well in Sydney.

What a week Dinara! Congrats! :aparty: :woohoo: :aparty:

Dinara :woohoo:

Dinara :banana: :woohoo:

Great start of the new season :eek: :bounce:
Congrats!!!!!!!!

Sad for Martina, but she'll win another one if not more this year :yeah:

I am so proud of Dinara for winnig this she is awesome

Well done Dinara!!

Unbelievable, I really didn't see this one coming. Congrats Dinara, well done!
Too bad Martina, next time better luck!

wow, big suprise. hingis should have been fresher, but she also hadnt had anyone to remotely challenge her. good on ya dina :bounce:

Thanks Martina, lost ALL my virtual cash :p

Way to go Dinara!

no,martina:bigcry:

NO!

Anyway, kick everyone else's asses in Sydney!

Martina :sad:

She is so funny too she was laughing and making jokes with Hingis in her speech saying Hingis wants them to play 2nd round in Sydney :lol: :haha:

:eek: Congrats Safina!

Martina :hug:

:sad: Martina

Sorry... but I don't see Martina will win a title this year!

Instead of showing the confidence (which she should have as she was the fresher player, and she was facing an opponent who she has beaten in the last 2 times), she looked nervous on court. She kept playing to Dinara's weapon (double backhand) most of the time, really surprised me as I thought she should have figure out the tactics.

Disappointed at Martina with such a performance!!!!

Dinara :yeah: :woohoo: :kiss:

well done girl, she's fought so hard this week :D

Dinara :worship: :yeah: well done!

Martina :sad:
congrats Dinara :yeah:

Dina :hearts: :kiss: :worship: :woohoo: :bigcry: :sobbing:

I love this girl so bad :kiss:. And her brother too :devil:.

But gosh...what a way to start the year for her :bounce:. Kick ass at the AO Dina :kiss:

Yay! Well done Dinara!

She took both the singles and doubles titles too!

Great news! :bounce: :kiss:

yay dinara

Terrible loss Martina, and on your best surface too! Get your act together quick smart!

impressing season start by Dinara.. as she mentioned a while ago, she wants to be a constant top10 player.. yeaa she is on her way :)

Well...I'm not going to sound predictable. And I don't want to repeat what I've said over the last few months.

But we all know Safina is good, but really not that good. True, Hingis might have made errors and missed break points. But the fact is that errors and poor tactics always hurt Hingis more than her opponents if they have more potent weapons than she does. They can gamble; Hingis cannot.

This is only one loss in a tier 3 final. I won't get this out of perspective. But I do think it is, yet again, indicative of what Hingis is up against. The dangerous players are not only ranked above her.

I was brushed aside when I claimed it was possible that by the end of 2008 she would be outside the top 15. I still think it's possible.

Dinara :banana: Awesome job! Would love to see this match!

This really hurts her chances of winning the AO this year, I really thought she had a chance. I did not expect her to lose, congrats Safina.

congrats Dinara!

it was a great match, congrats dinara im glad she won. her backhand down the line today was simply awesome and hingis got outpowered. i loved dinaras speach at the end about the ballboys.

Dinara :bounce: :bounce: :bolt: :)

Yeah dinara hits the ball hard but martina beat her twice last year when she hit the ball just as hard. She lost 7-5 in the third after 1 bad service game, it happens. Martina lost to razzano, sugiyama and mirza to name a few, none of them the biggest hitters on tour but if she's off her game full stop she is gonna lose.

So if martina loses cos the biggest hitters out power her all the time, what excuse can dinara, sharapova, davenport, petrova, dementieva have for losing to her. They weren't hitting hard enough? they were outsmarted?. No, just that martina played better than them on that day. :cool:

Dinara won singles and doubles. She's still 20, and a big girl.
She has a chance to keep improving, and she's already top 10.

Congratulations Dinara! I'm so happy for her!

Martina :o WTF was that? :mad:

:woohoo:

``Everyone's going to have to watch her because she's going to be even better than her brother,'' Hingis said at the trophy presentations.

``I hope it's not our last final ... and good luck in the Australian Open,'' Safina said to Hingis before holding the trophy above her head.

Martina :S
Dinara :)

Well done Safina, excellent stuff. i really think she can take the next step in 2007.

Well played Hingis, i had a feeling she would lose but i'm sure she will be strong it what must be her favourite event the Australian Open!

:sad: Martina...
congrats! Dinara

Well...I'm not going to sound predictable. And I don't want to repeat what I've said over the last few months.

But we all know Safina is good, but really not that good. True, Hingis might have made errors and missed break points. But the fact is that errors and poor tactics always hurt Hingis more than her opponents if they have more potent weapons than she does. They can gamble; Hingis cannot.

This is only one loss in a tier 3 final. I won't get this out of perspective. But I do think it is, yet again, indicative of what Hingis is up against. The dangerous players are not only ranked above her.

I was brushed aside when I claimed it was possible that by the end of 2008 she would be outside the top 15. I still think it's possible.

It wasn't that bad an error fest. Yes Dinara went for her shots and for the most part dictated most aspects of the match.

Both players though had some incredible shotmaking and that down-the line backhand from Dinara was sizzling:eek:

Dinara did look the more spent of the two but kudos to her for not backing down to Martina.

Martina :sad:

:woohoo: dinara kicked martina's ass :devil:

I wouldn't say she kicked her ass. You must be a huge Safina fan. ;) because Martina could have easily served for match. I love how Safina works so hard. She's a fighter.

Well done, Dinara :)

Martina :sad:

Wow! Sounds like a good match. Well done Safina! Nice try Hingis.

Great stuff Dinara :bounce:

Martina could have won this match... I think she just lost the match because she wasted lots of breaking chances and many of her serves where she was leading 40-0/40-15... that cannot happen, and after wasting all the break chances she also was losing her serve in the next game, because she was frustrated by not having broken safina´s serve with all those chances... Mentally Martina was weaker than Safina... just that.

We also have to remember that Safina is a very good player and when she really wants to win a match, she is a player able to win or to lose on the limits... anyway, I believe we will see more finals and wins from Martina because she can play a very good level during lots of time, For Safina i have some doubts... maybe this year she will be more consistent...

We also have to remember that Safina is a very good player and when she really wants to win a match, she is a player able to win or to lose on the limits... anyway, I believe we will see more finals and wins from Martina because she can play a very good level during lots of time, For Safina i have some doubts... maybe this year she will be more consistent...

I couldn't have said it better myself. Safina is a player who has her moments. And of course we all remember Safina's French Open match against Sharapova. I still can't believe Maria lost that match. I think she was burnt out. :)
That's the thing with tennis, it can be a dangerously close sport. Like with Venus and Lindsay and Wimbledon 2005, that was too close for comfort. :eek:

Watch out for Safina this year. She shares the same genes as Marat, she fights all the way and every year she improves. She has beaten Mauresmo, Clijsters, Sharapova, Dementieva, Hingis and Kusnetsova and still people say she is not that good. Wait and see, wait and see.
Go Safina!

Dinara plays Kim in the 2nd round of Sydney, if she beats Pratt.
That will be a real test for her.

http://espn-i.starwave.com/media/apphoto/GLD10601060531.jpg

Russia's Dinara Safina displays the Women's Hardcourt Championship trophy after beating Martina Hingis in the finals on the Gold Coast, Australia, on Saturday January 6, 2007. Safina, ranked No. 10 in the world, clinched the title, beating world No. 7 Hingis 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 . (AP Photo/Charlie Knight)

Well...I'm not going to sound predictable. And I don't want to repeat what I've said over the last few months.

But we all know Safina is good, but really not that good. True, Hingis might have made errors and missed break points. But the fact is that errors and poor tactics always hurt Hingis more than her opponents if they have more potent weapons than she does. They can gamble; Hingis cannot.

This is only one loss in a tier 3 final. I won't get this out of perspective. But I do think it is, yet again, indicative of what Hingis is up against. The dangerous players are not only ranked above her.

I was brushed aside when I claimed it was possible that by the end of 2008 she would be outside the top 15. I still think it's possible.
You seem to overlook that the ranking indicates that Safina is at 11, just off the the top ten, plus Safina has beaten Amelie (to win a Tier II event in 2005), Sharapova, Clijsters, Kuznetsova, all of them players that are light years ahead of Martina in your point of view, so it should not be really a surprise that Hingis just lost 7-5 in the third set.

What really shocks me the most from this match is that fact that Hingis did not do anything with her serve in the offseason which really is silly, at least those were the comments i heard from the match, i did not see the match either, but if she showed no improvements on that serve then :rolleyes: at Martina.

PD. The 2008 prediciton is a bit ridiculous, we are too far away from that, almost two years, who knows if Martina will be playing by then. :rolleyes:

Congratulations Dinara !! What an awesome win , i'm so happy for her.
Nice tournament Martina.

Well...I'm not going to sound predictable. And I don't want to repeat what I've said over the last few months.


:lol: :lol: :lol: You were kidding with that one, right?

But we all know Safina is good, but really not that good. True, Hingis might have made errors and missed break points. But the fact is that errors and poor tactics always hurt Hingis more than her opponents if they have more potent weapons than she does. They can gamble; Hingis cannot.

This is only one loss in a tier 3 final. I won't get this out of perspective. But I do think it is, yet again, indicative of what Hingis is up against. The dangerous players are not only ranked above her.

I was brushed aside when I claimed it was possible that by the end of 2008 she would be outside the top 15. I still think it's possible.

Broken record anyone? :yawn:

People like to think the tour is moving forward - it's not. The quality of tennis last year (especially past the slam R16's) was abysmal. As long as she plays a full schedule and avoids any lengthy injury layoffs, Hingis will remain in the top 10, easily, for the next couple of years at least. I really don't see her outside the top 15, or even how that's a possibility unless you're predicting a major injury; that comment was ridiculous.

Great week Dina, lots of close matches, just glad that you could pull this one out of the bag and get another win over a top 10 player :) Hopefully you can carry on this form for the rest of the year :yeah:

Martina :hug: :sad:

You seem to overlook that the ranking indicates that Safina is at 11, just off the the top ten, plus Safina has beaten Amelie (to win a Tier II event in 2005), Sharapova, Clijsters, Kuznetsova, all of them players that are light years ahead of Martina in your point of view, so it should not be really a surprise that Hingis just lost 7-5 in the third set.

What really shocks me the most from this match is that fact that Hingis did not do anything with her serve in the offseason which really is silly, at least those were the comments i heard from the match, i did not see the match either, but if she showed no improvements on that serve then :rolleyes: at Martina.

PD. The 2008 prediciton is a bit ridiculous, we are too far away from that, almost two years, who knows if Martina will be playing by then. :rolleyes:

As i stated in an earlier post, Marti's second serve looked like it had more on it for the first half of the match - Dinara had very little opportunity to attack it. She was extremely dangerous when Marti dropped the ball slightly short on the groundstrokes (and not even when they were short as Dinara was hitting winners from 3m beyond the baseline).

The problem with Marti is and i've seen it time and time again, she doesn't commit to the serve for the entire match. When things appear to be going her way, she then starts slowing it down a bit.

A few people have said it was disappointing from Marti. Maybe i was excited cause i hadn't seen her play in a while but i thought it was a good match. On this form Safina would have pushed most of the top 10.

And Steffica - you are never predictable. ;)

Oh my BITCHY ASS MARTINA HINGIS :rolleyes: :weirdo: :sobbing: :sobbing: :smash:

WORK ON u're WEAK ASS SERVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

could u TRY to CONVERT on BREAK POINTS :weirdo: :smash: :rolleyes:

Dinara, u lost to her 2 times in a ROW...so I BET u were DYING TO GET u're REVENGE....Congratulations!!!!!!!!!

Dinara played her semi late, then played doubles.
Then she beat Hingis, then won the doubles title.
Hingis doesn't have a top 5 game. Too many players can crush her serve.

Martina could have won this match... I think she just lost the match because she wasted lots of breaking chances and many of her serves where she was leading 40-0/40-15... that cannot happen, and after wasting all the break chances she also was losing her serve in the next game, because she was frustrated by not having broken safina´s serve with all those chances... Mentally Martina was weaker than Safina... just that.

Martina's BP conversion was HORRENDOUS!!

I think she was at about 18%...she won't beat Kim or Momo like this
In fact, She can't win matches against any top 10 players, if she continually wastes her chances like that!! :mad:

Still, In the long-run of the season it is better for her to lose a close-match like this and improve upon it then to win when she doesn't deserve too!? IMO

With the draw she has in Sydney, she needed points at GC.

"It's disappointing, but it's not like she blew me away or I gave it to her," world No.7 Hingis said.
"Maybe she is going to be better than her brother. Marat is in a way such a genius.
"She mightn't have the touch, but she has more will and desire. She manages her emotions better now.
"If you want to play well at a grand slam, you need matches like this and she had tougher matches than me before the final.
"Physically, I was able to hold with her. There's next week in Sydney and if I can win some matches there, I'll be in good form."

Yay Dinara!!!!! I knew she would win!!!!

Congrats Dinara :yeah: :banana: :woohoo:

I'm not a big believer in these Tier III's and IV's.
Dinara has Kim in round 2 in Sydney, that will show where she is now.

:lol: :lol: :lol: You were kidding with that one, right?



Broken record anyone? :yawn:

People like to think the tour is moving forward - it's not. The quality of tennis last year (especially past the slam R16's) was abysmal. As long as she plays a full schedule and avoids any lengthy injury layoffs, Hingis will remain in the top 10, easily, for the next couple of years at least. I really don't see her outside the top 15, or even how that's a possibility unless you're predicting a major injury; that comment was ridiculous.

And I think you're discounting injuries.

Yes, they can all get injuries. But with Martina, you can guarantee that as soon as she's been battered around for a while, her body will feel the toll of it. That's been my bottom line all along: to keep abreast of the top ten, Martina will have to play a relatively heavy schedule. I don't think her body will hold up for long.

And I think you're discounting injuries.

Yes, they can all get injuries. But with Martina, you can guarantee that as soon as she's been battered around for a while, her body will feel the toll of it. That's been my bottom line all along: to keep abreast of the top ten, Martina will have to play a relatively heavy schedule. I don't think her body will hold up for long.

She played 12 events in 2002, missed 2 slams, totally sucked from April onwards and still finished top 10.

She played 12 events in 2002, missed 2 slams, totally sucked from April onwards and still finished top 10.

Good point. I'm merely saying what I think is possible. I am no prophet.

But, having followed women's tennis since at least c1992, I would say that 2006 was perhaps the worst year I've ever endured. Maybe it's because I'm getting bored with women's tennis, but I don't think so.

I believe that the 6 players above Hingis are all more formidable players. Petrova is the only doubt, but she won 5 tier 2 or above tournaments last year, to just one in that category from Hingis. She also has a more potent game.

Then, below Hingis there is Venus, Serena, Ivanovic, Vaidisova, perhaps Safina, and maybe even a few others will spring up. Dementieva, in my opinion, has too much for Hingis when she is serving above average and her ground game is on. Remember Tokyo last year? Elena was awesome. Ivanovic and particularly Vaidisova have yet to prove that they can blast Hingis off the court when it counts, but I expect them to.

So if we have a competitive 2007, then I think Hingis' ranking will suffer.

Good point. I'm merely saying what I think is possible. I am no prophet.

But, having followed women's tennis since at least c1992, I would say that 2006 was perhaps the worst year I've ever endured. Maybe it's because I'm getting bored with women's tennis, but I don't think so.

I believe that the 6 players above Hingis are all more formidable players. Petrova is the only doubt, but she won 5 tier 2 or above tournaments last year, to just one in that category from Hingis. She also has a more potent game.

Then, below Hingis there is Venus, Serena, Ivanovic, Vaidisova, perhaps Safina, and maybe even a few others will spring up. Dementieva, in my opinion, has too much for Hingis when she is serving above average and her ground game is on. Remember Tokyo last year? Elena was awesome. Ivanovic and particularly Vaidisova have yet to prove that they can blast Hingis off the court when it counts, but I expect them to.

So if we have a competitive 2007, then I think Hingis' ranking will suffer.

Steffica - this is nothing new. She's had to deal with up-and-comers with power for years and has held her own.

As long as she doesn't get injured she will be in the top echelon of the game.

This is a really really really awful loss for Martina: on her best surface, at the beginning of the year, against someone she had twice beaten since her comeback, someone who is, no offense, a second tier power babe. I mean, it's great to be happy for Martina for coming back and managing top ten, but let's be realistic: she can't be losing to players like Safina this far into her comeback. She's still stagnant. She hasn't improved since last April...I hope to God she steps it up and makes the semis at Oz...but I'm really not convinced.

hingis is one player who needs alot of match practise (tough matches) to be top form. she is not like serena or justine who don't need match practise.

yesterday final was her first 'tough' match of the year. previous matches were just too easy. so hopefully she can get some match practise in sydney too by beating jankovic.

]This is a really really really awful loss for Martina: on her best surface, at the beginning of the year, against someone she had twice beaten since her comeback, someone who is, no offense, a second tier power babe.[/B] I mean, it's great to be happy for Martina for coming back and managing top ten, but let's be realistic: she can't be losing to players like Safina this far into her comeback. She's still stagnant. She hasn't improved since last April...I hope to God she steps it up and makes the semis at Oz...but I'm really not convinced.

Well, the surface wasn't exactly the same as the Rebound Ace used in Sydney and Melbourne. :wavey:

I think that the loss isn't as bad as many are making it out to be...Dinara could easily make the transition to 1st Tier power babe this season, she is already in the top 10!
Martina didn't play her best yesterday and Dinara played great! It's ok, I just hope Martina can pull something out of her Magic Hat in Sydney and get some good matches in before Melbourne!!

She played 12 events in 2002, missed 2 slams, totally sucked from April onwards and still finished top 10.

And my fundamental point, which even I seemed to miss in my reply, was that Hingis sucked from April onwards BECAUSE of the heavy schedule to which she is forced to commit in order not to face "power babes" in early rounds.

The rigours of the tour, even individual matches, take far more out of Hingis than more physical and athletic players. Hingis does not have any options to end points early, and that has always been her problem.

Hingie said that providing Hingis doesn't get injured, she will always be up there. Well, I'm saying that in trying to be "up there", Hingis will eventually grind to a halt under the barrage of winners and aces, as she did in 2002. Between 1998 and 2002, Hingis held her own, although with limited success given that she was slamless from January 1999 onwards. But at 26, with a history of injuries behind her, and a host of players knowing her weaknesses, I think Hingis will be left reeling before long.