Hingis Shows Venus She Rules World

Venus Williams is moving up fast. Martina Hingis, however, is still on top.

In a match showcasing the hottest rivalry in women’s tennis, Hingis defeated Williams, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, Sunday to win the Italian Open at Rome and get a big lift for the French Open, which starts May 25.

The final between the two 17-year-olds turned after Williams broke serve at love to make it 3-3 in the final set. That seemed to jolt the top-ranked Swiss star, who ran off three games in a row.

“At the end, I just started thinking more and tried to be more aggressive,” Hingis said. “I was surprised at the way she played. She was fighting. She didn’t give up until the end.”

Said ninth-seeded Williams: “In the end she played more aggressive. She decided to go for it and take more chances.”

Hingis, who earned $150,000, won her fourth title of the season. She is 30-3 this year, with two of the losses to Williams.

Hingis now has good reason to be encouraged about Paris. The French Open, like the Italian Open, is played on clay and is the only Grand Slam tournament Hingis has not won.

By reaching the final, Williams moves up two places to No. 7 in the Women’s Tennis Assn. rankings after starting the year at No. 22. Hingis said Williams plays like “she’s No. 2.”

Williams won the previous time they played, at the Lipton tournament in Florida in March. But that tournament was played a harder surface better suited to Williams’ power game.

On Sunday, the first set was marked by service breaks and erratic play, but Hingis regained her poise to run off the last three games and wrap up the set in 37 minutes.

Williams settled down in the second set and began scoring with her backhand. The two played evenly until Williams broke in the sixth game. She tied the match at a set apiece on her second set point when Hingis hit a forehand into the net. Midway through the third set, after an exchange of service breaks, Hingis was back in control and on her way to the title.

Williams, who settled down to win the second set by scoring with her backhand, offered no excuses after the match, unwilling to complain of a knee problem that forced her to take an injury timeout during her semifinal victory over Arantxa Sanchez Vicario.

Nor did Williams complain about Saturday’s tennis schedule--a two-hour doubles match teamed with sister Serena following her singles victory.

“[Sunday] I really brought the level of my game up,” Williams said.

Hingis admired her opponent’s stamina: “I knew she was tired from [Saturday]. I thought she would fall apart.”

The $2.4-million men’s portion of the tournament opens Monday, featuring 19 of the world’s top 20 players, including No. 1 Pete Sampras.

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On a day when courtside temperatures reached 104 degrees, exhausted Alex Corretja retired during the third set to give the German Open title to Spanish compatriot Albert Costa at Hamburg.

“I felt I was dying on court, but I prefer to live,” Corretja said before apologizing to the crowd, which applauded loudly. Costa led, 6-2, 6-0, 1-0, when Corretja called for a doctor. After being examined, he walked to Costa and shook his hand. The two embraced and Costa sat on Corretja’s bench to await the awards ceremony.

Costas earned $361,000 in winning the seventh and most significant title of his career. All his titles have been on clay.

The tournament began in rainy weather and nearly winter temperatures but ended in scorching heat. Corretja, coming off four tough three-set matches in three days, could hardly move after a few games. Costa, who won $361,000, had to play only three games Saturday because Karol Kucera retired with foot blisters.

Corretja has now lost twice in the final of this $2.5-million tournament, a major clay-court tuneup for the French Open, the second Grand Slam event of the year that starts May 25.

Costa said he would be heading to the French Open with a lot of confidence.

“I am stronger mentally and I am a better player now,” he said.

Costa, unseeded, encountered some resistance from the fourth seed only in the first set. But after breaking Corretja for a 4-2 lead, Costa won the next 10 games. Corretja played a desperate serve-and-volley game in the second set in an attempt to shorten the points.

Costa was ranked No. 9 in the world one year ago. He came into the tournament ranked No. 26 and will return to the Top 20 after this victory.

In this tournament he beat defending champion Andrei Medvedev in the first round, saving two match points and overcoming back problems.

“I feel like a winner,” Costa said. “I played good tennis all week.”

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At Coral Springs, Fla., unseeded Andrew Ilie of Australia defeated No. 8 Davide Sanguinetti of Italy, 7-5, 6-4, to win the $270,000 America’s Red Clay Tennis Championship.

The victory was worth $34,800 for the 22-year-old who came in ranked 169th in the world and had to win eight matches to gain the title. In his first-round match, he knocked off two-time defending Red champion Jason Stoltenberg of Australia.

It was the first championship appearance for Ilie, who moved to Australia from Romania when he was 11, and marked the fourth straight year an Australian made the Red final. Ilie is the first qualifier to win a tournament since Jonathan Stark captured the Singapore Open in October 1996, defeating Michael Chang in the final.

“Every tennis player visualizes winning a title,” said Ilie. “I was afraid to think too positive.”