Martina Hingis was back to her winning ways today when she beat Zimbabwe's Cara Black in style to launch the defence of her title at the Pan Pacific Open tennis tournament.
The world number one Swiss, who crashed to a surprising defeat in the Australian Open final last weekend, chalked up a comfortable 4-0 lead in the opener and 3-0 in the second set for a 6-3, 6-3 win in the second round.
Anna Kournikova, the third seed, faced quite a scare before quashing the challenge from 1998 Japanese national champion Saori Obata 7-6 (10/8), 1-6, 6-4.
Kournikova double faulted at 30-40 to go down 3-4 in the final set but gained a timely break in the following game, charging hard to the net to force Obata to make a backhand error.
The match ended abruptly when Obata, in her turn, double faulted on Kournikova's first match point at 30-40 in the 10th game.
Seeking a record fourth title here Hingis opened her campaign in devastating form conceding only four points to Black in the first four games.
In Melbourne, Hingis bowed to Jennifer Capriati in the final but she appeared confident of retaining her title here.
"My goal is 'winning.' I won this tournament twice [in a row] before, coming here from Australia and being number one seed, so that the way I have to think is 'winning, 'defending my title'," she said.
AFP