Hingis' Comeback Falls Short

Martina Hingis, who felt so positively about her recent comeback, will have to rethink strategy before jetting off to Los Angeles next week following her 1-6 7-6 3-6 loss to Patty Schnyder Thursday evening.
Schnyder started strong in the first set, taking advantage of an uncharacteristically dodgy Hingis, who won only 33% of her first serve points. Although the majority of the games in the set went to deuce, Schnyder’s iron resolve was too insistent for the match-deficient Hingis and the set was oddly lopsided.
Shocked, Hingis rallied in the second set and boosted her winning percentage to 56% in the second set, which was, no doubt, aided by her making 84% of her first serves in. Hingis’ return of serve also seemed to flourish for the first time in the match, allowing her to break Schnyder for the first precious times. Schnyder, coming off a recent three set loss in doubles, had a perhaps understandable mental whiteout, as Hingis cruised to a temporary 4-2 lead. Her grip on the second set slipped, however, as Schnyder regained her confidence and fought doggedly to force the second set of a tiebreak, which would become the pinnacle of the match. Hingis was able to finally cap the second set with a dramatic 7-4 win in the tiebreak despite prolonging the set more than she probably expected to.
A seemingly confident Hingis plowed her way to a 3-1 lead in the final set, and appeared to be standing tall after the hurricane of the second. However, Hingis again collapsed, allowing Schnyder to breeze through the next six games to notch a 6-3 final set and win, edging Hingis in all time career meetings 3-2.
The loss, consistent with the inconsistent 2007 for Hingis marks another missed opportunity for a title, as second seed Jelena Jankovic was ousted by sleeping talent Maria Kirilenko . Hingis will be looking to bolster her now 21-10 record next week in Los Angeles, a tournament she has neither won nor participated in since 2001.