Hingis eliminated on a day of surprises

A day after Martina Hingis said depth of talent in women’s tennis has grown dramatically since she turned pro in 1994, Hingis experienced that depth first-hand.

Sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli, seventh-seeded Hingis and eighth-seeded Dinara Safina all lost to up-and-coming players Tuesday at the East West Bank Classic at the Home Depot Center.

Sania Mirza, a 20-year-old native of India, used a devastating forehand and consistent serve to defeat Hingis, 6-2, 2-6, 6-4, in the featured night match.

Mirza squandered triple match point at 5-4 in the third set but won the deuce point and then the match.

“You’re playing Martina Hingis, you can’t be expecting to roll through six-love in the third,” Mirza said.

Hingis, battling a nagging hip injury, has not advanced past the round of 16 in a tournament or beaten a seeded opponent since defeating Ana Ivanovic in February in the finals at Tokyo.

“With my health and everything, its been difficult,” Hingis said. “I’ve been trying to catch up on everything, and hard courts, they kind of do it to you.”

Earlier in the day, unseeded Maria Kirilenko defeated Bartoli, 7-6 (2), 6-3. Bartoli is 1-3 since reaching the final at Wimbledon.

The Frenchwoman, always eccentric, never appeared comfortable. She continued her trademark jump-skips before each point but practiced her stroke after most points and twice called for her father, who serves as her coach.

“It’s hard to kind of come with the bye and just play straight away with a girl who won some matches in San Diego and won one here,” Bartoli said.

For Kirilenko, ranked No. 35, the win was her second upset of a top player this month. She defeated No. 3 Jelena Jankovic last week at the Acura Classic before losing to Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals.

“I’m really happy that I won because today I didn’t really play great,” Kirilenko said.

“And I know that [Bartoli] didn’t really play good today..”

Unseeded Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko beat Safina, 6-2, 7-5.

Bondarenko saved three of five break points and won 64% of her service points.

-- Ken Fowler