Martina Hingis' dreams of winning her fourth successive Australian Open singles title were shattered earlier today by a stunning display from American Lindsay Davenport. Davenport raced to a 6-1 7-5 victory in just one hour and five minutes to leave Hingis stunned as she lost her crown. Davenport now holds the Wimbledon and Australian titles alongside the Olympic crown she won in 1996.
Prior to this match, Hingis had won 27 consecutive matches in Melbourne, but within three quarters of an hour, Davenport found herself serving for the match at 6-1 5-1. But just as it seemed victory was assured, the defending champion held serve to come back to 3-5, and concern began to emerge that the hamstring Davenport had damaged in her semi-final defeat of Jennifer Capriati was beginning to affect her.
After a virtually error-free start to the match, Davenport's ground shots were becoming wild and missing the target. More unforced errors by the Californian levelled the match at 5-5 and Hingis looked ready to take the match into a deciding set. However, Davenport comfortably held serve thanks to two powerful backhand winners and a crisp crosscourt volley at the net on game point. Another long backhand from Hingis secured the title for Davenport, who shrieked in delight as the ball dropped beyond the baseline.
Though disappointed in defeat, Hingis praised her opponent. "My winning streak in Australia is over but I'll be back next year," she said. "I tried to keep it to over an hour and it lasted one hour five minutes, but I got beaten by a great player."
