Winning starts for Hingis and Federer

Hingis made short work of her opponent Keystone

Swiss tennis stars Martina Hingis and Roger Federer have both made winning starts to the new tour season with opening round victories at the Sydney Open.

On the comeback trail after the ankle injury which helped topple her from the world number one ranking, Hingis needed only 47 minutes on Tuesday at the Adidas International tournament to reassure her supporters.

After a slight struggle in the opening game of her match against America’s Lisa Raymond, when Hingis had to save three break points, the Swiss world number four found her rhythm, eventually going on to win 6-1, 6-1.

“Of course I’m not yet back to the shape I was in before my time off,” Hingis admitted afterwards. “I still have some weaknesses to work on in all areas. But the break has definitely done me good, giving me some time for myself away from all the hectic travelling and hotel life.”

Hingis will now face Spain’s Aranxta Sanchez-Vicario or Frenchwoman Sandrine Testud in the quarterfinals.

Roger’s revenge

Swiss men’s number one Roger Federer was also successful in Sydney, gaining swift revenge over Spain’s Tommy Robredo who had beaten Federer just one week earlier in the Hopman Cup mixed doubles competition.

Once again Robredo asked a lot of Federer as the match got underway with the 20-year-old Swiss falling 4-5 behind after being broken in the opening set. But Federer showed his resolve, breaking back immediately before taking the first set on a tie-break.

“After going 4-5 down I wanted to show the crowd that I deserve my high place in the world rankings and to be seeded second here,” Federer said afterwards. “From that point on things went quite a bit better.”

The newly motivated Federer was still not able to have things all his own way in the second set. After missing four break point chances with the score at 1-1, the young Swiss again had to rely on a tie-break to help him through 7-6, 7-6.

Federer is now the highest ranked player at the Sydney tournament following the early elimination of French top seed Sébastien Grosjean. In the third round Federer is due to face Belgium’s Xavier Malisse.

Wins for ‘Micha’ and ‘Manu’

At other Australasian tournaments, Michel Kratochvil and Emmanuelle Gagliardi were able to complete a successful day for Switzerland’s tennis players.

Gagliardi defeated American Marissa Irvin in Hobart in two sets (6-4, 6-2) at the WTA tournament in Hobart, while Kratochvil chalked up his first win of the year, with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over America’s Robby Ginepri in the New Zealand capital Auckland. In the second round, Kratochvil will take on New Zealand’s Mark Nielsen.

swissinfo with agencies