It’s Her Arrival as a Rival

Nigel Sears has coached elite players and his experience enables him to recognize the signs of an impending breakthrough. Just before the tournament here, he had a chat with his young protege, Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia.

Her near misses--three-set losses against Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin and Lindsay Davenport--were the first sign. The second was her willingness to work hard.

Sears recalls, “I said to her one evening, ‘Look, you’re working great in practice. I don’t know when you’re going to break through and I know you’re going to break through. I can’t tell you whether it’s going to be next week, or Miami or Amelia Island or Charleston.’ She looked at me and said, ‘This week, please.’”

Asked and answered.

“She really means it,” Sears said. “She wants it now and is not the type to say, ‘One day.’ She’s not a one-day dreamer.”

Hantuchova, 18, will be playing in her first WTA final today against second-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland in the Pacific Life Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. She is the second-lowest-ranked player, at No. 26, to reach the final. Australian Jenny Byrne, then ranked 64th, lost in the 1989 Indian Wells final.

Hingis, champion here in 1998, is three years older than Hantuchova and has won 40 titles. She was only 14 when she reached her first final, at Hamburg on clay in 1995, losing, 6-1, 6-0, to Conchita Martinez of Spain.

“I got killed. I don’t remember the scores,” Hingis said, laughing. “Also in Rome, I played her too. Gee, that was my second [final]. I always had to play her. As long as she could, [Martinez] gave the youngsters a pretty good lesson.”

Hingis hasn’t done poorly in that department, either. After losing her No. 1 ranking late last year, she began 2002 in peak physical condition, having taken an enforced rest after tearing ligaments in her right ankle in October.

She started the year by winning at Sydney and losing to Capriati in the Australian Open final after holding four match points. Since then, Hingis has won at Tokyo and reached the semifinals at Scottsdale, Ariz., has not dropped a set here in five matches and has remained in the spotlight with her romance with Spanish golf pro Sergio Garcia.

For Hingis, Indian Wells represented an opportunity to regain some confidence and ranking points in the absence of Venus and Serena Williams, Capriati and Davenport. She will move back to No. 3 on Monday.

“It kind of levels it down a little bit that the top players weren’t here,” Hingis said. “So I felt like, ‘Well, this is an open draw for me.’ Kim [Clijsters] was injured coming into the tournament, so I’m pretty much the favorite. So I just try to take my chance and take advantage.... Nobody here, so go for it.”

Hantuchova held the same philosophy. Her side of the draw opened after Clijsters had lost early, and she overcame a mental block by finally beating a top player, Henin, in the third round.

“She’s always aspired to be in a big arena,” Sears said. “She’s dreamed of being a big star. She’s not interested in the small tournaments. She has that mentality.”

Before they started working together, Sears asked Hantuchova to identify her ultimate goal in tennis.

“She said, ‘No. 1,’ just like that,” Sears said. “And that was good. She thinks big and I respect that.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Women’s Final

* Who: Martina Hingis (Switzerland) vs. Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia).

* When: Today, 4:30 p.m.

* TV: ESPN.

* Final thought: Hingis has won 40 WTA titles; this is Hantuchova’s first final.