Hingis crashes out of French Open
The women's world number one, Switzerland's Martina Hingis, is out of the French Open after being beaten by America's Jennifer Capriati.
Hingis saw all hopes of reaching the final fade as Capriati needed only 76 minutes to stride to victory, winning in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Hingis got off to a good start breaking her opponent’s serve in the first game, but Capriati was quick to fight back and was not deterred by Hingis’s head-start.
Hingis, for her part, failed to exploit her early advantage and played an uninspiring game.
After the match she said her American opponent had simply “overwhelmed her”. “She just played better at key times. I missed too many (chances). She was very relaxed and just went for it.”
The American player dominated the two sets despite being plagued by a pain in her right knee which forced her to call for a physiotherapist twice during the match.
“She just played a good match.” Hingis said, “I knew pretty much that this was almost the final. I think if I had beaten her I would have had a good chance to win the final.”
The defeat was a bitter disappointment for the Swiss star with the French Grand Slam title eluding her for yet another year. The French Open is the only major title Hingis has never held.
With her ranking as the women’s world number one and the absence of top players such as Monica Seles, Lindsay Davenport and Mary Pierce due to inury, Hingis had a real chance of winning this year’s tournament.
This combined with the early knock-out of Venus Williams and Amelie Mauresmo, meant Hingis faced few real challenges before Jennifer Capriati in the semi-final.
Following her defeat, Hingis conceded that Capriati was now the best player in the game.
“She beat me in the Australian Open final at the start of the year, now she is in the final again here,” she said.
“She has beaten me and beaten both the (Williams) sisters so she has proved it,” she added.
Thursday’ match against Hingis was Capriati’s second French Open semi-final. She almost made it to the finals in 1990 at the age of 14.
Capriati will now go head-to-head with Belgium’s Kim Clijsters in the final.
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