Hingis leads Swiss charge at Wimbledon

Hingis hopes to stay world number one at Wimbledon Keystone

Fresh from a resounding victory at the Rosmalen grass tournament in the Netherlands, Martina Hingis, is the first of her compatriots in action at the Wimbledon tournament which starts on Monday.

Hingis faces Spain’s Angeles Montolio in the first round. She is already one of the favourites to win Wimbledon, one of the four Grand Slam events of the tennis calendar. But her arch-rival, the American, Lindsay Davenport, is alsoin contention, as well this year’s winner of the French Open, Mary Pierce, and the American sisters, Venus and Serena Williams.

However, Hingis’ recent victory at Rosmalen in the Netherlands, may have done little to prepare her for Monday’s first Wimbledon match. She received a first round bye in the Dutch tournament, and her semi-final opponent pulled out due to illness. Hingis then won the final when her opponent, Romania’s Ruxandra Dragomir, retired in the second set with an injured toe.

The rest of the Swiss contingent at Wimbledon will play their first matches on Tuesday. The Swiss women’s number two, Patty Schnyder will face Italy’s Tatiana Garbin. Emmanuelle Gagliardi will play Argentina’s Paola Suarez, while Miroslava Vavrinec is up against the Russian, Yelena Lichovtseva.

Switzerland’s top male tennis player, Marc Rosset, will need to achieve a turnaround in his game after failing to get beyond the second round at last week’s Nottingham Open. He takes on the Argentinian, Franco Squillari on Tuesday.

However, Roger Federer playing on the same day, looks as though he will have the toughest opponent, the fifth seed, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, while George Bastl will play the Dutchman, Sjeng Schalken.

swissinfo with agencies