Hingis Cuts Down Martinez Despite Her Wicked Slice

The spinning, swirling, dipping slice from the backhand of Conchita Martinez played all sorts of games with Martina Hingis in the second set of their quarterfinal match Wednesday night at the State Farm Evert Cup.

But, the way Hingis figured, it couldn’t last more than a set, certainly not through the third.

Once again, Hingis was right as she rallied from a 5-1 second-set deficit against the No. 5-seeded Martinez, winning, 6-1, 7-5, at Grand Champions Resort in 73 minutes. The victory sets up a semifinal match between the No. 1-ranked Hingis and Venus Williams on Friday.

The tight second set was a total contrast to the first. Martinez, who was suffering from a blister on her foot, called for an injury timeout after the third game of the first set. She returned to the court trailing, 2-1, and won four points the rest of the set.

Hingis appeared to be caught off guard when Martinez raised her level of play in the second set. It was a rematch of their meeting in the Australian Open final, which Hingis won 6-3, 6-3 in January.

“She started playing much better,” Hingis said. “She didn’t make the errors anymore. She hit every forehand down the line. I was like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?’ Then I figured she couldn’t do it all the time. I started pressuring her even more.”

Afterward, Hingis found herself in the unfamiliar position of talking about facing a player she failed to beat in their most recent match: Williams. Williams beat Hingis for the first time in four meetings, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5, in the fourth round at Sydney in January.

“So far, I won when it was more important,” Hingis said. “I won the U.S. Open final. I think that’s a little bigger effort than playing the first tournament in the year. She played well there. She made the finals. We’ll see what’s going to happen now.”

Williams said she used a different strategy against Hingis at Sydney.

“All the other times I played her, I just felt I had to do too much, hit winners and things like that,” Williams said. “She’s the type of player that waits for you to miss, places the ball, just waits for you to make that error.

“In that match, I decided not to miss anymore. She just kept waiting for me to miss, but I wouldn’t do it.”

Hingis was asked if she intended to change her strategy Friday.

“Well, I’m going to definitely be more ready than I was in Sydney,” she said. “That was the first tournament I played there. Still had a big chance to beat her there. I was up a set and 3-1. After that, I just kind of let it go.”

*

Australian Open champion Petr Korda survived a second-set lapse in his second-round match against Scott Draper of Australia, winning, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, polishing off the victory with an emphatic overhead.

Korda was just as emphatic at his news conference when he was introduced by a tour official as the Australian Open champion, saying it had “nothing to do” with this tournament.

Nevertheless, Korda said he really hasn’t had the chance to celebrate his first Grand Slam victory. “I probably still didn’t realize what I did,” he said.

Korda, who played after Hingis on Wednesday night, has been in Indian Wells since a week ago last Tuesday, and waited longer than any other player on the men’s side to play his initial match.

“I’ve been falling asleep at 9:30,” he said. “But I’m professional and I have to adjust to the schedule. Luckily, Martina [Hingis] played a short match.”

He didn’t get upset after losing the second set.

“I wasn’t angry,” Korda said. “He was firing balls quite perfectly, hitting every corner. He just outplayed me at that point. I just fell asleep and didn’t play my game.”