Davenport downs Hingis to win Chase Championship
By Dale Brauner SportsTicker Staff Writer

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Second-seeded American Lindsay Davenport today played what she termed her best match ever to dominate No. 1 Martina Hingis and win the Chase Championships.
After reaching the final twice before, Davenport dispatched Hingis, 6-4, 6-2 in a little more than hour to win the WTA Tour's $2 million season-ending event for the first time.
"Just going out to the match, I wanted to be really aggressive and go for winners," said Davenport, who earned $500,000 for winning her seventh singles title of the year. "Some days they fall in, and sometimes they don't. Today they fell in. The whole match, I just played the way I wanted to play, aggressive and going for it. "I played my best match ever, and to end my year with that is really great."
This season had the 23-year-old Davenport hold the No. 1 ranking for more than a month at the start of the year and for a portion in the summer. She also capturd her second career Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, and led the United States to victory over Russia in the Fed Cup crown.
"I wake up ever day and go, `God, I can't believe what I've done,'" Davenport said. "I think I'm very lucky to accomplish everything I did. I never thought I'd be at this point in my career to have won a major, let alone any titles. I think it's great and I enjoy it all the time thinking about it."
A 19-year-old from Switzerland, Hingis fell to 1-2 in finals here at Madison Square Garden. Last season, she defeated then-No. 1 Davenport in four sets, and in 1996 she lost to Steffi Graf in five sets.
This year's final was only a best-of-three sets.
"I guess that was a pretty solid performance," said Hingis, who received the runner-up check of $250,000. "It was probably her best match against me, but it's tough to come back consecutive days and play your best."
On Saturday, Hingis won a tight two-set match over third seed Venus Williams of the United States in the semifinals while Davenport had an easier time against No. 6 Nathalie Tauziat of France."
In a match between the only players to hold the No. 1 ranking since March 1997, Davenport got off to an excellent start. She broke serve right away, then held, taking a 2-0 lead with a service winner and two aces. After Hingis struggled to hold her next service game, Davenport easily went up 3-1. The American broke again, continuing to pounce on Hingis' second serve, which usually topped out at around 70 mph. After losing her serve in the fifth game, Hingis tossed her racket, bringing about a chorus of boos from a mostly packed house.
"I got a little frustrated about some calls, not like the way I played, of course," Hingis said. "But I think I've been able to control myself a little bit more. I missed some shots that I wasn't supposed to miss, but things like that (bad calls) makes it even harder."
The release of anger must have been good for Hingis as she gained one of the breaks back, and won her own serve to move to 3-4. She went ahead love-30 on Davenport's serve but hit three straight errors. Hingis again held serve and moved within two points of evening the match. However, Davenport regrouped, hitting an ace and nailing a cross-court backhand winner. After Hingis' backhand went wide, Davenport closed out the 36-minute set with a cross-court backhand volley.
"That's why it's always important to get two breaks on Martina," Davenport said of Hingis' resurgence in the middle of the set.
"Serving at 4-3 after being up 4-1, that was probably the most nervewracking; even for the set at 5-4 and love-30, the few points I was able to win in both games, to win that first set, because she was definitely coming back, getting a little bit more confident and not making so many effors."
The second set began more promising for Hingis, who easily held serve. But Davenport charged ahead toward her 26th-career singles title by winning the next three games. The Swiss teen held serve one last time before Davenport tore through three more games. She served three aces and a service winner to claim her second tournament victory in New York, having won the U.S. Open in 1998.
"The way I played the last three games, not letting her back in the match and closing it out, that's great," Davenport said. "That's something you hope you can do when you get into a situation to win a big title, and that's what I did today."
Davenport was superior in almost every catagory. She finished with nine aces, won 83 percent of her first serves, hit 36 winners and just 12 double faults.
"It's pretty hard to do it any better than that," she said. "My serve was great. I'm going to make errors in my game at some points in the match because I go for it a lot. I'm a high-risk player, but when you can have more winners than errors and be more consistent, that's when I'm playing well."
Hingis moved from singles action to doubles play, where she paired with Russian Anna Kournikova to win their fifth title of the year. The top seeds posted a 6-4, 6-4 victory over No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain and Latvia's Larisa Neiland. They will share the $200,000 first prize.
Hingis and Kournikova also won the Australian Open, and appeared in the final of the French Open. However, Hingis will team with Mary Pierce to begin the 2000 season.

Prior to the women's final, Jana Novotna, who announced her retirement after losing at the U.S. Open, was honored with a ceremony. A video tribute was shown and Novotna was given serveral gifts, including a mountain bicycle. She won 24 career singles titles, including the 1997 Wimbledon crown, and 76 doubles tournaments over a 12-year career.
The doubles match signaled the end of another career as Neiland retired after 16 seasons. She won six Grand Slam titles -- two women's doubles and four mixed-doubles crowns. Neiland, who also competed under her maiden name of Savchenko, captured her 69th career doubles title last month in Leipzig, Germany.
updated at Sun Nov 21 14:06:22 1999 PT
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THIRD TIME A CHARM FOR DAVENPORT IN PHILADELPHIA

The third time was a charm for American Lindsay Davenport. After back-to-back runner-up finishes at the Advanta Championships, Davenport served notice that she is ready for next week's Chase Championships with a convincing 6-3, 6-4 victory over world No. 1 Martina Hingis on Sunday, November 14.

In what may be a preview of the final at the season-ending event in New York, Davenport fired seven aces en route to her sixth WTA Tour title of the year and her second win of the season over Hingis, who dethroned Davenport for the No. 1 ranking on August 9.  Hingis leads the WTA Tour with seven titles in 1999.

"I just felt great playing and I went for my shots," Davenport said.  "My serve definitely kept in the match today. To win this is pretty exciting."

Both players held serve in the second set until the 10th game. With Hingis serving at deuce she committed a backhand error whcih forced match point.  But the Swiss teenager fired an ace to Davenport's backhand side which kept her alive.  Hingis managed to save a second match point, but faced a third after hitting a forehand wide.  Off her second serve, Hingis hit a backhand into the net to give Davenport the victory.
In her first event since aggravating a wrist injury last month in Filderstadt, Germany, Davenport lost only one set en route to the title, including an impressive 6-1, 6-2 semifinal victory over world No. 3 Venus Williams.
Davenport pocketed a first prize of $80,000 for winning her 25th career title. She holds an 8-7 lead in the all-time series with Hingis, including a 6-4, 6-3 victory in the final at Sydney, Australia in January in their only previous meeting this season.
Davenport will be the second seed at the Chase Championships, which gets under way on Monday, and will face Amelie Mauresmo of France in the first round. Davenport lost to Hingis in last year's final.
The 19-year-old Hingis was appearing in her tour-best 12th final of the year, but posted her second straight runner-up finish. She lost to Venus Williams in the final of her home event in Zurich three weeks ago. Hingis will be the top seed at the Chase Championships and will meet Sandrine Testud of France in the first round.
 
 

Lindsay kisses her Chase Championships trophy on the ice rink at New York's Rockefeller Center Monday, Nov. 22, l999.	Lindsay Davenport celebrates her championship win over Martina Hingis during the Chase Tennis Championships at Madison Square Garden in New York, Sunday, Nov. 21, 1999.
Lindsay accepts the Billie Jean King Trophy as Martina Hingis, of looks on during the award ceremony