On the Brink of Defeat, Hingis Rallies Past Seles

Martina Hingis proved she can come back from difficult situations. Monica Seles thinks she’s proved the same thing.

Hingis, the world’s No. 1 player, was two swings from defeat against Seles before winning, 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-5), for the Family Circle championship Sunday. It was her sixth consecutive title and 31st consecutive victory.

For Seles, who is winless against Hingis and Steffi Graf since returning to tennis 20 months ago, the loss was another step closer to the top spot she held nearly four years ago.

“It’s great to feel I can play well again on clay,” said Seles, 0-3 against Hingis and 0-2 against Graf. “It’s nice to know that if I keep playing, nothing will stop me from that, to try and get back the ball feeling.”

A week ago at the Lipton Championships, Hingis destroyed Seles, 6-2, 6-1, in 44 minutes. This time, Hingis trailed, 5-0, after 14 minutes.

“I was just hoping she didn’t do the same score to me as I did to her,” Hingis said. “I liked last week a lot better.”

Hingis earned $150,000, boosting her season’s winnings to more than $1.2 million.

Seles has gradually improved her game since a two-year layoff after a 1993 stabbing incident at Hamburg, Germany. She won the 1996 Australian Open, but has struggled through injuries to stay in top shape. She has lost to Graf in the finals of the past two U.S. Opens and looked lost a week ago against the fresher Hingis.

“Each loss is tough,” Seles said. “But I am definitely happier with the way I played this week.”

Hingis faced only one seeded opponent--No. 14 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy in the semifinals--before the championship. So she looked unprepared and out of sync as the fourth-seeded Seles seized the early lead.

“In tennis, you can never say a match is gone,” Hingis said. “I was upset with the way I played and started to play longer points.”

Things started turning in the second set. Firing precise forehands that continually clipped the sidelines, Hingis survived three break points to go 2-2, then broke serve twice to even the match.

Seles led the third-set tiebreaker, 5-3, when she missed four consecutive shots.

“My feet just seemed to stop working,” Seles said. “I started pushing my shots and it was over very fast.”

Hingis said she will take the next three weeks off to relax and reflect on her hot start this year. Only Graf, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert have won as many matches to begin a year and no one has earned more money.