BBC SPORT | Tennis | Rusty Hingis crashes out

Latest results from Filderstadt, Germany

A rusty-looking Martina Hingis made an early exit from the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt in Germany on Thursday, and seeds Justine Henin and Jelena Dokic also crashed out.

The number seven seed, struggling back to full fitness from an ankle operation, was trounced 6-3 6-1 by Russia's Elena Dementieva at the $625,000 event.

Henin, meanwhile, was sunk by hard-hitting Swiss teenager Myriam Casanova.

And Russia's Tatiana Panova beat world number eight Dokic 1-6 6-4 6-1.

Hingis, who has won in Filderstadt on four previous occasions, said she was expecting her recovery from injury to take time.

"For the time being, the essential thing is for me to play against the best," she said.

"If I can do that I can once agan think about becoming number one."

She added: "Physically I'm feeling better but there are still ups and downs.

"I feel quite a bit better than last week and for six games I was able to keep it up, and after that I was a little flat, a little tired."

Her opponent said she was delighted to have reached the last eight.

Elena Dementieva on her way to victory over Martina Hingis
Dementieva was in dominant form

"I know Martina was injured and had it hard, but I also played well," said Dementieva, ranked 22nd.

Hingis, seeded seventh, looked out of sorts in her fifth tournament since her operation in May.

The Swiss player was ousted in her first match last week in Moscow, the first time that has happened to the former world number one since Sydney in 1996.

After the two players traded five breaks to open the match, Hingis double-faulted away the next game to give Dementieva a 4-3 lead.

After that she did not look mobile enough to keep the Russian from winning and, as a result of the defeat, she will drop out of the world's top 10 for the first time in six years.

Casanova, who has risen from 348 at the start of the year to 69, did little more than stand on the baseline and hit hard, but that was enough to overcome Henin.

There were no such worries for Belgium's Kim Clijsters, who cruised into the quarter-finals with a resounding 6-1 6-2 win over former French Open winner Iva Majoli of Croatia.

Clijsters, the world number nine, was simply too powerful for Majoli.

"I knew I had to apply pressure right from the start against Majoli, because if she can play her own game, she's tough," Clijsters said.

Second round results (numbers represent seedings):

A Mauresmo, 5-Fra bt A Kremer, Lux 6-1 6-2
M Casanova, Swi bt J Henin, 4-Bel 7-5 4-6 6-4
K Clijsters, 8-Bel bt I Majoli, Cro 6-1 6-2
E Dementieva, Rus bt M Hingis, 7-Swi 6-3 6-1
T Panova (Rus) bt J Dokic (Yug) 1-6 6-4 6-1.


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