Hingis out on a day of upsets at the U.S. Open

hingis.org

The first day of September turned out to be a bad day for the seeded players with the biggest shocker being Maria Sharapova who lost to Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in 3 sets of the 3rd round. The earliest exit for the #2 seed since 2004.

Now in all fairness Sharapova played absolutely terrible, committing a total of 12 double faults!. But a huge credit still goes to Radwanska for scoring one of the biggest wins of her young career, all the while keeping her cool and not being intimidated in the least throughout the match.

She actually did some intimidating of her own, which I'm sure surprised the hell out of Sharapova lol. This was actually a happy upset, made me proud to be from Poland.

Nadia Petrova and Patty Schnyder were the other seeds who lost yesterday leaving the bottom half of the draw wide open.

The most disappointing loss came in the late afternoon, when Martina Hingis lost to Victoria Azarenka in 3 sets 6/3 1/6 0/6. Hingis won the first set after battling from 2 breaks down, then lost the second winning only 1 game.

I'm still not sure what happened in the last set, but I would venture she just run out of gas, or at least I'm really hoping that's the reason and not her injury announcing itself again. Also perhaps playing singles and doubles took it's toll on her as well.

I think I'm still more upset at how easily she lost more then I am by the loss itself, because let's face it, it was not unexpected.

Though people who actually saw the match claim she put up some what of a fight. I was once again unable to see the match this time due to CBS's sexist coverage of men's matches. So I'm only going by what I've read.

I would really chuck this loss up to lack of match play, which as we all know equals lack of confidence and mental toughness. Anyway, it's another loss and another lost opportunity at what could have been a semi or final of a grand slam. At this point it's beyond sad.

Here's hoping she gets a chance at regaining some of that lost confidence in her doubles match with Daniela Hantuchova today. Winning the title in doubles isn't the same as singles, but it would certainly be a nice consolation price. Plus it would give her some much needed ranking points.

Ok, now that I've ranted about all things negative lol. Let's try looking at a more positive side. Yes, Hingis lost but at least she made it one round further then last year, and she's still in the doubles tournament.

To all those people complaining saying she should retire I say, chill. Seriously. The woman just came back from very serious injuries. She's still human, so as I've said many times before cut her some slack.

I've heard that she is working with a coach and a nutritionist, so that can only lead to good. But improvement can only come with time. It doesn't happen overnight.

Besides if she retired again, I guarantee after a year we'd all want her back. So I say let's just wait and see how things go for the rest of this year before completely writing her off.