Hingis wins Dubai tournament
Martina Hingis has clinched her 38th singles title after winning the inaugural WTA tournament in Dubai. Switzerland's world number one faced few problems in Saturday's final, beating French third seed Nathalie Tauziat in straight sets.
The 6-4, 6-4 victory completed a fruitful couple of weeks in the desert for the Hingis. The Dubai win comes just a week after the Swiss star’s triumph in Doha over Tauziat’s compatriot, Sandrine Testud.
“These have been two extremely intensive weeks,” Hingis admitted after Saturday’s victory. “But at the same time it has also been the most exciting time of my career to date.”
Hingis never looked in any danger of losing to Tauziat, a player she had beaten in all five of their previous meetings. Broken twice at the start of the match, Tauziat gave up the first set without much of a fight.
The Frenchwoman continued to struggle at the start of the second set, but managed to stage a minor comeback after falling 4-1 behind. With the scores at 4-4, Hingis again piled on the pressure, though, breaking Tauziat once again before winning the final game on her first match point.
The Dubai showdown marked Hingis’s fifth appearance in a final this season and her third title of the year. She is now planning a two week break before returning to action in March for the Indian Wells and Key Biscaine tournaments.
swissinfo with agencies
In compliance with the JTI standards
More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.