Hingis Fires the First Volley

What do you get when Rupert Murdoch meets Martina Hingis?

Tabloid heaven, essentially.

The precocious Hingis will say anything at any time and the Australian Murdoch papers started drooling after muscular teenager Amelie Mauresmo of France defeated top-seeded Lindsay Davenport of Newport Beach in the semifinals. It set up Saturday’s final featuring the unseeded Mauresmo, 19, against Hingis, 18, the two-time defending champion.

Davenport, with no malice, said she felt overpowered in her three-set loss, likening the experience to playing against a man and kept talking about Mauresmo’s huge shoulders.

Hours later, the second-seeded Hingis entered the interview room, pleased with herself after an easy victory over Monica Seles in the other semifinal. She spoke in English, and, as always, took questions in Swiss-German.

Hingis was asked about Mauresmo’s intimidating presence on and off the court.

“She’s here with her girlfriend,” Hingis said. “She [Mauresmo] is half a man.”

After winning the doubles title on Friday, Hingis tried to repair the damage, saying: “I was waiting for that [question]. How funny. I mean, I didn’t say she was half a man. It was like, I don’t know how that came up.”

She said she was speaking about Mauresmo’s game.

“As half man--who would say that?” Hingis said. “She’s a girl. She’s playing tennis and very good and I have to beat her on the court, not somewhere else. It’s just bad talking, you know?”

Davenport was upset when she picked up the tabloid here, and saw her comments in huge type, making it seem she said her opponent was like a man. “I was totally talking about tennis,” Davenport said. “You guys love to write the worst line possible and unfortunately you have probably hurt a very nice girl. . . . I’m sorry all this happened. I learned my lesson. I’m not going to say anything at all about anything any more. And you guys can have the most boring press conferences ever.”

Later, she was more reflective, speaking with three American reporters.

“It’s just a nightmare,” said Davenport, who said she intended to send Mauresmo a note. “It was directed at her tennis. Girls don’t play the way she does and that’s really what my point was after. I feel terrible. I know the girl was really hurt, from what I’ve heard.

”. . . The power with what she was serving at the end, the way she was stepping into the ball. A lot of girls don’t hit their one-handed backhand that strong, that early, that much topspin. That’s more the point I was trying to get after.

“I felt terrible, it was not the message I was trying to convey, not the point I was bringing across. It took away from our match because it was a good match. I thought I played well to lose, don’t think I gave it away. Now the girl is trying to play her first final and unfortunately she is under a cloud of controversy, that I shouldn’t have started by trying to say something innocently. I hope she will play well tomorrow.”

Earlier, Hingis, who has dropped one set in six matches, found herself on safer ground in expressing relief at avoiding another final against Davenport. If Hingis wins the Australian Open for the third consecutive time, she will close the gap to less than 400 points on the top-ranked Davenport.

“For me, mentally, it is also easier to go out there being the favorite,” Hingis said. “It would have been nice playing Lindsay, but it’s tough playing her.”

Said Mauresmo: “I guess I’m going to be a little bit nervous, that’s for sure. But I take it [the pressure] very well, improve and, we will see.”

Hingis defeated Mauresmo twice last year, winning both matches in three sets. The most recent meeting was in the third round at the U.S. Open, and Hingis prevailed, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. Mauresmo is the first unseeded finalist at a Grand Slam event since Venus Williams at the U.S. Open in 1997.