Hingis falls short of first title in comeback

Second-seeded Dementieva overpowers 4-time Pan Pacific champ 6-2, 6-0

Itsuo Inouye / AP

Martina Hingis, who entered the Pan Pacific Open as a wild card, beat top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the semifinals Saturday, but got off to a sluggish start in the final and never found her game against Elena Dementieva on Sunday.

TRACY AUSTIN ON TENNIS

Jury's out on Hingis

Swiss Miss hasn't shown she can handle top-tier players

Slideshow

Record performances
Take a look at players who have won and put themselves in the record books at the U.S. Open.

NBCSports.com

Slideshow

The Championships - Wimbledon 2009 Day Thirteen

Career highlights
Take a look back at key moments in Roger Federer's tennis career.

NBCSports.com

Off the court

Getty Images	Celebrity tennis fans A look at some well-known fans in the world of tennis.
AFP/Getty Images	Who's hot on Twitter? Check out which of your favorite athletes have the best pages and most followers!
Getty Images for ESPY	Stylin' sisters Check out the fashion choices Venus and Serena Williams made on and off the court.
	Love matches Take a look at a number of the players who found love -- at least temporarily -- with fellow tennis competitors.

updated 2:06 a.m. ET Feb. 5, 2006

TOKYO - Martina Hingis missed a chance for her first title in her comeback, falling 6-2, 6-0 to Russia’s Elena Dementieva on Sunday in the Pan Pacific Open.

The second-seeded Dementieva overpowered Hingis in the championship match at Tokyo’s Metropolitan Gymnasium to win her first Tier 1 WTA Tour singles title.

Hingis, who retired three years ago because of foot, heal and ankle injuries, is a four-time winner in Tokyo. She last played in the tournament in 2002.

Story continues below ↓

advertisement | your ad here

“I’ve exceeded my own expectations and am happy to playing good tennis once again,” Hingis said. “I’ve got a couple of things I have to work on and I’ll go where this takes me.”

In her comeback attempt, Hingis won her first mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the Australian Open after reaching the singles quarterfinals.

Hingis, who entered the tournament as a wild card, beat top-seeded Maria Sharapova in the semifinals Saturday, but got off to a sluggish start in the final and never found her game against the ninth-ranked Dementieva.

“I’ve been playing well for the last five or six weeks,” Hingis said. “I guess I just faced one Russian too many.”

Hingis was broken three times in the first set and had a series of unforced errors.

The Swiss star had no answer for Dementieva’s powerful serves and returns. When Hingis came to the net, the Russian player frustrated her with lobs that Hingis had no chance of reaching.

Slide show
Raising a racket
A look at tennis’s hot stars, on and off the court.

“I love to do passing shots,” Dementieva said. “When she started to come to the net I could see she didn’t like my groundstrokes and was trying to change the pace. I was able to use those lobs effectively.

“I’m happy to have played such a good game in the final. I played very solid today and I hope this will give me confidence for the rest of the season.”

Hingis said she will play in Dubai later this month and next month in Doha, but declined to go into detail about her long-term plans.

“I’ll play in Dubai and Doha and we’ll take it from there,” Hingis said. “I just want to pace myself and see how my body copes with it.”