Tennis roundup: early exit for Manta; Hingis in Hamburg

The Swiss Davis Cup player, Lorenzo Manta, has crashed out in the first round of the $350,000 clay tournament in Orlando. He was beaten in three sets by Argentina's Martin Rodriguez, placed nine places above the Swiss player in the ATP world rankings.

Manta can at least reflect that he made the Argentinian work hard, with all three sets ending in tie breaks.

His compatriot, Marc Rosset, fared no better at the BMW Open in Munich. The Swiss number one struggled against Brazil’s Fernando Meligeni in the first round, but was forced out 3-6, 6-4, 3-6.

Switzerland’s top player in the women’s game will be hoping for a slightly better start to the week, when she returns to the scene of former glories. Martina Hingis is competing in the WTA tour event in Hamburg, where she won her first ever European clay court title in 1998. Hamburg was also the scene of Hingis’s first appearance in a singles final back in 1995. With a bye into the second round, the Swiss top seed is in pursuit of the world number one spot, which she recently lost to her American rival, Lindsay Davenport.

Switzerland’s second-seed, Patty Schnyder, is also in contention at Hamburg. Schnyder will come up against one of the tournament’s qualifiers in her first round match.

Another of Switzerland’s tennis stars, Georg Bastl, has opted for a sunnier climate this week and a sunnier look. Sporting new blonde highlights for the Mallorca Open, Bastl has already disposed of Martin Garcia and is next due to play Sweden’s Mikael Tillstrom in the second round.

swissinfo with agencies