Martina Hingis has suffered a shock 6-3 6-4 defeat in the final of the Indian Wells Masters in California. The Swiss second seed was beaten by 18-year-old Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova in just 75 minutes.
"For me it's like a dream coming true because this was my first final, playing one of the greatest players, and beating her the way I did. Today was just unbelievable for me. It's still hard for me to believe what I have done here,” said Hantuchova afterwards.
The Slovakian unleashed an array of stunning winners to run Hingis into the ground, and held her serve to take the opening set after breaking Hingis to go 5-3 in front. One break each followed in the second set before Hantuchova secured a vital second break of serve which was enough for her to serve out for the match.
“She just played very fearless, she had nothing to lose. I had a few opportunities which I didn’t take and she just kept hitting those lines. There wasn’t much I could do about that. When I was 18, I was fearless too…I guess,” said a disappointed Hingis, who will climb one place in the world rankings to number three on Monday.
Filed by Tom Grealis
