Seventh seed Martina Hingis had to fight hard to beat Italian Mara Santangelo in their second-round match, 7-5, 7-6(5), at the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada.
Hingis’ first-time triumph over Santangelo lasted for one hour and forty-six minutes. As this is the first time Hingis played against Santangelo, she had no idea what to expect from the big-serving Italian. In the first round, Hingis had to put up with her Italian opponent’s big serves and some wide shots. With two aces to Santangelo’s one ace, no double-faults to Santangelo’s four, Hingis breathed a sigh of relief, taking the first set, 7-5.
Hingis started the second set poorly, trailing Santangelo at 4-1. Santangelo then took a medical timeout, while Hingis talked to her mother on court. When the play resumed, Santangelo found herself serving for the second set at 5-4. Not wanting to go for a third set, Hingis turned the table around with solid ground strokes and won two games more before winning the tiebreaker to advance into the next round, 7-6(5).
Hingis, the first to advance into the third round, will be playing Slovak Daniela Hantuchova whom she is tied with in career head-to-head wins at 1-1.
