Comeback kid Martina Hingis beat Russian teen Maria Kirilenko to advance to the second round of the J&S Cup in Warsaw Poland.
But the road was hard and long. First rain delays stopped the game a while and then her serve played up.
“We were just breaking each other, and most times pretty easily,” Martina Hingis told the press. “It was very difficult conditions. I think that today whoever had the stronger head, and stayed in the match, won.”
The inconsistency in serve showed in the first set when both players couldn’t hold their serve and when it was 5-4 Kirilenko failed to take the set. Hingis worked hard , made it 5-5 and made 5 points in a row to take the first with 7-5.
Rain again was the biggest spoilsport and the match was delayed for yet another hour.
After the forced break Kirilenko dominated but it was Hingis flexibility that forced the second set into a tie breaker and Hingis then let her killer instinct do the work and took the second set with 7-6.
The other matches of today are delayed until tomorrow. Daniela Hantuchova versus Anna Smashnova are among those.
