Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Martina Hingis to play doubles at Sony Open in Miami

The Sony Open will announce on Thursday that semi-retired former No. 1 Martina Hingis has accepted a wild card to play doubles with friend Sabine Lisicki at the Key Biscayne tournament, which begins next week.


Hingis, the five-time Grand Slam winner and crowd-pleaser, is now 33 and dabbling in doubles. She joins a star-studded Sony field that includes Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova.


Fans should also keep an eye out for Ukrainian player Alexandr Dolgopolov.


Last week, Dolgopolov released a video calling for peace in his homeland, and it included messages from Nadal, Djokovic, Murray and Gael Monfils.


On Monday night in Indian Wells, Calif., Dolgopolov (known as “Dolgo") did something that he hopes brought Ukrainians a short respite from the government unrest and violence back home: He beat world No. 1 Nadal and established himself as a player to watch heading into the Sony Open.


Dolgopolov was 0-5 against Nadal going into Monday’s third-round match at the BNP Paribas event and had never won a set against the Spaniard. He lost to Nadal two weeks ago on clay in the Rio final. But this time, his aggressive style and varied pace threw Nadal off his game and the Ukrainian won 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).


The 25-year-old jumped from No. 57 to No. 31 in February and beat three top 20 players in Rio, including David Ferrer.


"As I said, it's good to make some results and make the people forget a little bit and have some happy moments in the news, [something] except the politics," he told reporters after the win over Nadal.


As for Nadal, he did not blame the loss on his back problems. He said he “played bad," never got in rhythm and was looking ahead to the Sony. “I will try to rest a few days and be fresh mentally, and I hope to be ready for Miami."



Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/13/3991068/semi-retired-martina-hingis-to.html#storylink=cpy

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