Martina Hingis’ dominance at Tokyo’s Toray Pan Pacific Open continued today with a crushing 6-4, 6-2 win over fifth seed Ana Ivanovic in the final.
Hingis, who was seeded second at this year’s event, completely turned the tables on the young Serbian compared to their last meeting in Montreal.
At the Rogers Cup, Hingis barely managed to win a handful of games, but this time she brought her A game to the court. At one stage of the short, seventy minute match, Hingis rattled off seven consecutive games before Ivanovic finally managed to hold her serve.
The second serve is still an issue for the Swiss Miss, but that just may be something that she has to live with in this stage of her career. She may not be able to go toe-for-toe against the heavy-hitters like Clijsters and Sharapova, but two Tier I titles since returning to the Tour last year is a feat in itself.
A loss to Ivanovic today would have sent ripples through Hingis’ confidence – not to mention her self-belief – but instead of walking away with the runner-up trophy like last year against Elena Dementieva, Martina Hingis captured her forty-third overall title and fifth in Tokyo.
Congratulations to the Swiss Miss on her first title of the season….and a nice tier I title at that. I hope she continues to fine-tune her game, beef up the second serve, but, most of all, stay aggressive!