what did she say about it ?

MASTERS '97

Hingis falls to Pierce in Chase Championships at New York

Top seed Martina Hingis' magnificent season came to an abrupt end when she was stunned by number seven Mary Pierce of France, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the $2 million Chase Championships in New York.

Pierce avenged her loss to Hingis in the Australian Open final as she handed the Swiss teenager her fifth defeat of the season -- and just her second before the semifinals.

"I think everybody knows you have to play great tennis (to beat Hingis)," Pierce said. "You have to expect her to make some amazing shots and just accept that, to keep going each point, just to forget it and go to the next point and be aggressive. The only way to beat her is not let her be in charge."

"She played better than I expected," Hingis said. "She just moved a lot better and her ground strokes improved. I was all the time pretty defensive in the match. If you play a player like Mary, you can't do that."

Pierce, who had been suffering from a kidney infection in recent weeks, fell behind 4-2 in the third set before breaking back and holding to square things at 4-4. She surged ahead in the 11th game, hitting a slicing forehand cross-court volley winner on break point, and served for the match at 6-5.

Pierce gained her first match point with a service winner but hit a backhand long. After fighting off two break points -- first with a forehand smash, then with an ace -- the 22-year-old Pierce sent a backhand long on a second match point.

Two more unforced errors by Pierce gave Hingis another chance to square the set. But the world's top player netted a forehand and Pierce ended a long rally with a cross-court forehand volley winner. She closed out the win on her third match point when Hingis' backhand sailed wide.

In the first set, Pierce raced to a 5-0 lead but allowed Hingis to win three straight games before converting her fourth set point with a forehand winner down the line.

"The first set was pretty flawless," Pierce said. "I went out and secured all my shots the way I wanted to, strategy-wise. I did what I wanted to, was very aggressive, taking the ball early on the rise, not letting her get a chance to get into the point."

Hingis took control of the second set, going up 3-0 and eventually breaking her opponent again to close out the set in 27 minutes.

"In the first, I had no clue what to do," admitted Hingis. "It was kind of too fast. I played better in the second, as long as she wouldn't make the game so fast. But she just kept playing the third set much better than she did in the second."

"The second set, I had a little letdown," said Pierce, who finished with 40 winners compared to 25 for Hingis. "I think I'm not completely back in shape, match shape. I think it will take a little while still, but the third set -- I basically gutted it out. I said it's the last tournament of the year, the third set, one more to go, so give it your all."

Pierce is appearing in her fourth season-ending event after missing last year's tournament due to a right shoulder injury. She reached the semifinals in 1993 and 1994.
The Frenchwoman captured her lone singles title of the year at the Italian Open and was a finalist at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in April and the German Open in May.

Pierce became the first player to upset the top seed twice in the Championships in the 25-year history of the event. She also knocked off Steffi Graf in 1994 in the quarterfinals.

First prize for singles is $500,000.