Thursday's semi-final match was a stretch too far for Hingis
(Keystone)
Rising Belgian star Kim Clijsters put an end to Martina Hingis' Californian dreams on Thursday, after beating Switzerland's world number one in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells Masters Series tournament.
The 17-year-old Belgian (WTA 19) was in impressive form against Hingis, winning the vast majority of the two players' baseline rallies with a string of hard and low groundstrokes. Having taken the first set 6-2, the youngster then appeared to fade for a while, allowing Hingis to snatch the second set by the same scoreline.
But it was Clijsters who finished the stronger, regaining her focus in the deciding set to wrap up a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 win. Despite the see-saw nature of the score, the whole match lasted just 71 minutes.
"I let her play well, I wasn't at my best today," said a deflated Hingis afterwards. "She has shown that she certainly isn't afraid to win."
Hingis herself rarely has any qualms about winning with Thursday's defeat ending a run of five tournaments in which the Swiss star has at least reached the final.
All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch.
As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.