In the second round of the Doha WTA tournament in Qatar, Switzerland's Martina Hingis had difficulty beating Maria Vento. The Venezuelan showed considerable resistance in the first set, forcing the world number one to defend two set points.

Vento's game crumbled in the second set, giving Hingis a 7-6,6-1 victory after an 81 minute game. Hingis is now qualified for the quarter finals, where she will meet South Africa's Joannette Kruger.

Hingis was playing her first match after a bye into the second round. Vento went into Thursday's game very confident, following her win over Germany's Barbara Rittner in the first round.

In the second round of the ATP tournament in Copenhagen, Switzerland's George Bastl lost against Britain's top player, Tim Henman. Despite a good performance, Bastl gave in after two sets, 5-7,5-7.

Bastl was already defeated two years ago by Henman at the Basel Indoor tournament. He is due to play in the United States in Memphis next week.

Marc Rosset's bid to defend his Marseille Open tennis title came to an early end on Thursday. The Swiss number two was beaten in straight sets by the in-form Frenchman, Julien Boutter.

Boutter, who reached the final of the Milan indoors tournament earlier this month before losing out to Roger Federer, romped to a 6-3, 6-4 win over Rosset.

The Genevan has spoken about the possibility of rejoining Switzerland's Davis Cup team ahead of April's quarter-final clash with France, but will hardly have impressed team captain Jakob Hlasek with Thursday's performance.

As the French number six, Boutter is not even a member of his own country's Davis Cup side. Nor was Thursday's defeat a one-off for Rosset.

The 30-year-old player has been beaten in the second round of all five tournaments in which he has played this season.

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