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TOKYO. — Former world number one Martina Hingis and rising tennis star Belinda Bencic ended their first time together as a dream doubles team for Switzerland in the Pan Pacific Open second round yesterday.
They bowed to the top-seeded pair of Zimbabwe’s Cara Black and Sania Mirza of India 6-4, 6-2 after winning their doubles debut match against Japan’s Rika Fujiwara and Taiwan’s Hsieh Shu-Ying 6-4, 6-2 in the first round.

But the Swiss duo, who have known each other for years despite the nearly 17-year age gap, said they might team up again in WTA events in China in the coming weeks, depending on how Hingis’ usual partner Italian Flavia Pennetta recovers from a recent right-foot injury.

Hingis and Bencic broke Black’s serve in the third and seventh games of the first set. But they could not hold their service right after each of the games. They lost their serve in four games in the second set of the hour-long match.

“In the second set, we were falling apart. But in the first set, we definitely had chances,” said Hingis, who turns 34 at the end of this month and has won five Grand Slam singles titles and nine doubles titles.

“It was a lot of fun to bring one of the best teams to have to play their best tennis,” smiled Hingis.
Partnered by Pennetta, she lost to Russia’s Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the US Open final in New York two weeks ago.

Bencic (17) currently ranked 34th in the world and who reached the US Open singles quarter-finals in only her fourth Grand Slam appearance, said: “It was fun to play with Martina.” — AFP.