Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Martina Hingis adds New Haven to her doubles comeback

Former top-ranked player Martina Hingis is coming to Connecticut to compete in the doubles bracket at the New Haven Open.
Hingis, who was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport last weekend, is set to begin her comeback on the doubles circuit next week in the Southern California Open in Carlsbad. She is scheduled to team with Daniela Hantuchova in California, but her partner for New Haven has not been announced.
Her appearance in California will be Hingis' first WTA tournament competition since September 2007. Hingis, 32, won 43 WTA singles titles, including five Grand Slam events, and was the No. 1 player in the world for 209 weeks. She won the 1997 Australian Open when she was 16.
As a double players, she won 37 tour events and nine Grand Slam tournaments. She also rose to No. 1 in the doubles rankings for 35 weeks.
Hingis has made one previous appearance in New Haven. She reached the quarterfinals as a singles player in 2002.
"I am looking forward to coming back to the New Haven Open to compete in doubles," Hingis said in a statement. "I feel in good shape at the moment after playing World Team Tennis [this summer]. My competitive spirit is still very much alive and I love being out on the court."
Hingis' most recent World Team Tennis match was Wednesday night, when she played singles and mixed doubles for Washington against Springfield in Washington.
"Adding newly minted Tennis Hall of Famer Martina Hingis to the New Haven Open at Yale doubles field is fantastic news, and will complement a very strong singles field featuring five of the top 10 players in the world," tournament director Anne Worcester said in a statement. "I can remember when Lindsay Davenport returned to play doubles in New Haven after she'd stepped away from the tour when her first child was born. Our fans came out in droves to support her, and I know they will do the same for Martina."
The New Haven Open is Aug. 16-24 at the Connecticut Tennis Center.

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