Hingis Surrenders in Loss to Pierce

Slumps happen.

But not like this.

It was enough that Martina Hingis had not won a tournament since early May and hadn’t reached a Grand Slam final since January. But it was an even stranger sight to watch the No. 1 player in the world unravel in a sea of teen errors after holding three match points in the second-set tiebreaker against Mary Pierce of France.

The 17-year-old Swiss star explained what happened after the unseeded Pierce defeated her, 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-2, in the semifinals of the Toshiba Tennis Classic on Saturday night at the La Costa Resort and Spa.

Late in the two-hour 16-minute match, she turned into a junior tennis player, coming apart after a 6-3, 4-1 lead.

“I’m not stupid,” Hingis said. “I know I could have won the match. She [my mother] told me, ‘You played like a junior.’ ”

Hingis remembered losing matches early in her professional career after holding match points, saying: “In my one bad year.”

The lost match points--all three of them erased by Pierce volleys--haunted Hingis in the third set. Pierce will play second-seeded Lindsay Davenport in today’s final. Davenport defeated fourth-seeded Monica Seles, 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, in an earlier semifinal.

Davenport was expecting to play Hingis in the final but had predicted Pierce could give the top-seeded player a tough match. As it turned out, Hingis felt she gave the semifinal away.

“I was too disappointed in the third set after having the match points and I just gave up,” Hingis said. “At a set and 4-1, I just kind of played around and wasn’t aggressive enough. It shouldn’t happen.”

Pierce was not thrilled to hear that Hingis said she gave up.

“I don’t know, that could be her excuse,” Pierce said. “But I kind of gave her the match early. I made her play. I gave everything it took for as long as it took.

“Maybe she was saying, ‘Oh, it’s late, I don’t want to be here. I should be home already.’ I mean, we’re only human.”

The sight of Pierce at the net, especially on the match points, took Hingis by surprise.

“Good, that’s what it’s for. That’s why I do it,” Pierce said. “I just kept focusing on each point, fighting point by point. I kept telling myself ‘Just this point.’ Then I would win and I would say, ‘Now, just this point.’ I was fighting right to the end.”

Afterward, Hingis was laughing and smiling in the interview room.

“Well, what can I do about it?” she said. “I better forget about this match. It’s not anything to cry about.”

Her serve was a major shortcoming, as she committed nine double-faults. Part of the problem was that Pierce kept her on her heels with strong service returns.

“My serve was sometimes there and sometimes not,” Hingis said. “I didn’t really trust my serve. The only thing I did well was return until 4-1 in the second.”

The Seles-Davenport match was also something of a roller-coaster ride with dramatic changes of momentum. The biggest turning point came in the third set with the score 30-30 and Seles ahead 3-2.

She appeared to get a break point when a shot by Davenport was called wide, but instead became upset and argued after the chair umpire overruled the call, the only overrule of the match.

The point was replayed. Davenport won it and the game, as an unnerved Seles dropped the next six points. And instead of trailing, the turnaround gave Davenport a 4-3 lead.

“It bothered me a little more than it should have,” Seles said. “In my mind it did [turn it around] because it just bugged me more than it should have.”

Said Davenport: “To say it as nicely as I can, I don’t think either one of us played our best today. That’s what happens some days. She was on such a roll in the second set and parts of the third that I was just trying to hang in there on my service games and wait for some opportunities.”

Seles was bothered by her ailing back and said she is strongly considering withdrawing from the upcoming tournament at Manhattan Beach, which starts Monday. She has been bothered by stiffness and back spasms.

At times, she served quite well. But other times, the back clearly hampered Seles.

“She was serving unbelievably, and then I was thinking, ‘Well, I’m sure her back is better. It can’t be that bad,’ ” Davenport said. “I couldn’t tell. Maybe sometimes after a couple of shots it bothered her.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Today’s Final

* WHAT: Toshiba Classic.

* WHO: Lindsay Davenport (2) vs. Mary Pierce.

* WHEN: 12:30 p.m.

* WHERE: La Costa Resort and Spa.