Well I was finally able to watch a Martina Hingis match in its entirety, one of the advantages of having your favourite player play in your home country:D. I didn't know this but apparently Hingis received a first round bye so this was her 2nd round match. And what a match this one turned out to be! I think everyone expected Hingis to get through it easily but her opponent proved to be more of a challenge then anyone or even Hingis herself thought.
That could have been due to Hingis's poor game play at times. Things weren't working for her today, her serve wasn't there she was only serving at about 50% and she made an unusually high amount of unforced errors. I think about 25 in total. As well as 5 double faults. Or it could have been that her opponent Italian Mara Santangelo hit a lot of very deep shots and it took Hingis a while to get used to it.
The first set went along with neither player breaking the other until the 5th game of the match where Martina broke and won it 7/5. What I was really surprised at was how little of her variety Martina used through out the match. Not very many drop shots or volleys, she really didn't mix things up the way she usually does.
In the second set Martina was really rushing and ended up being broken. Her opponent was leading 4/1 in the second, but Martina came back after talking to her mom and coach Melanie Molitor for the second time when the other player had an injury time out. She also talked to her in the first set, where she seemed very agitated and unhappy.
She calmed down after their second talk and looked a lot more relaxed. The second set ended up going into a tie break which Martina won with a lot of effort. So I really gotta give her lots of credit for coming back from 4/1 down and winning the match 7/6.
For those who don't know one of the new rules in Tennis that is being introduced for the first time at Rogers Cup is on-court couching. Players are allowed to request their coach to come on court once per set as well as during set breaks. If a player takes a medical time out or bathroom break, the opposing player only may request her coach without losing one of her rights to do so. Coaching timeouts are conducted during changeovers and at mid-set intervals.
Both players used this new privilege in the match and as I've mentioned in Martina's case it seemed to help. It calmed and refocused her allowing her to get back into the match. The on-court coaching sessions are shown on a tape delay basis. What I loved about Martina's session is that she chose to speak to her mom in her first language, Czech.
Which is very smart since like the commentators said not a lot of people speak it, so there's no danger of anyone particularly your opponent knowing exactly what your coach is telling you. They did bring in a translator who talked to Martina's mom in German and she also said that she suggested Martina mix things up. Which she seemed to do a little more towards the end of the match.
Both players also used their challenges, which is basically where you challenge the call of the lines person and if you're right you win another one. A player can challenge once in a set. unless like I said they're right and earn more. All of this is available thanks to hawk eye technology. Which are special camera's that allow the players and the audience to see if a ball is in or out. That's also something that has only been introduced this year.
All in all it was a really entertaining match, and I think the fact that Hingis won such a difficult match in two sets is a good sign. She'll certainly be more prepared for all the other matches to come. Maybe this will give her enough confidence and we can see another clash with her and Kim. Where hopefully this time she'll be able to get her revenge. And sorry if I seem a bit critical of Hingis's game in this post, she really didn't play too badly but there was a lot of room for improvement.
Also forgot to mention I loved that in her post-match interview Matina asked the interviewer what exactly he asked her mom lol. She turned it around on him just as he was about to walk away. That's Martina for you never afraid to speak up or satisfy her curiosity:D.
Next Martina will most likely play Daniella Hantuchova, which will be another tough one. But if she can get through she has a real chance at winning this title. Due to many seeded players pulling out of the tourney at the last minute. People like Sharapova, Henin, Venus, Pierce and Mauresmo. So I think this title is open to anyone. We shell wait and see. Crossing my fingers and lots of luck to Martina in her next match.
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