Davenport Wins Indian Wells Title

March 13, 2000 / 9:34 PM EST / CBS/AP

World No. 2 Lindsay Davenport continued her recent domination of top-ranked Martina Hingis, defeating the Swiss star 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 Saturday to win the Tennis Masters-Indian Wells championship.

The victory was the 1999 Wimbledon winner's fifth in a row over Hingis, who hasn't beaten Davenport since November 1998. But Hingis retained the No. 1 ranking this week by making it to the semifinals of the Indian Wells event.

In the men's semifinals, 10th-seeded Thomas Enqvist outlasted defending champion and No. 12 Mark Philippoussis 6-3, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (8) and unseeded Alex Corretja knocked off No. 8 Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-4.

Philippoussis came back from a 6-1 deficit in the second-set tiebreaker, reeling off seven consecutive points to win the set. Enqvist, however, finally wrapped up the victory when he returned a 132 mph serve by Philippoussis and Philippoussis hit the ball into the net to end the 2-hour, 31-minute match.

In the women's final, Davenport was down a set and trailed 2-4 in the second when she suddenly found the range with her powerful groundstrokes. She went on to overwhelm Hingis, winning the final 10 games.

"The only way to beat Martina is to overpower her; I'm able to do that," said Davenport, a 6-foot-2, 175-pounder who hits the ball considerably harder than the 5-7, 130-pound Hingis.

"She definitely brings out the best in me. I get fired up every time I play her. We've been playing so many times in the finals. You get up for those."

Said Hingis: "It is a little depressing losing to her all the time. She can just keep her level up throughout the whole match; that's the difference. She has a big forehand and I'm not allowed to play to her forehand that much, but I also have to make her run. That's kind of difficult to do at the same time."

Hingis was able to keep the ball in play for long rallies, waiting for Davenport to make mistakes in the first set. But Hingis seemed to begin losing her concentration in the seventh game of the second set.

Davenport held service to narrow the gap to 4-3, then set the tone for the rest of the match by breaking Hingis' service with a sizzling forehand down the line to even it at 4-4.

Hingis didn't win another game, and her mounting frustration showed as she slammed her racket to the court after having her service broken in the second game of the final set.

Davenport finished with 35 unorced errors, most of them in the first 16 games, to 18 errors by Hingis. But Davenport hit 43 winners to just 14 by Hingis.

Davenport, 23, began her current winning streak against Hingis, 19, in Sydney in 1999. It includes this year's Australian Open, which Davenport won 6-1, 7-5 in the final for her third Grand Slam singles title.

Davenport, from Newport Beach, Calif., is 11-7 lifetime against Hingis and is the only player in the top 20 with a winning record against her.

The victory also extends Davenport's overall winning streak to 16 matches, and she's 19 of 20 this year, her best start ever. Hingis had won 12 consecutive matches before the Indian Wells final.

The match also was a tiebreaker of sorts: Davenport now has 28 career titles, Hingis 27.

Asked if the losing streak against Davenport was like a nightmare to her, Hingis said, "No.

If I wouldn't have another chance to play her, that would be a nightmare."