Hingis Survives to Play Another Day

Martina Hingis was starting to get frustrated, bending lower and lower to try to handle Lisa Raymond’s sliced backhand.

Even Raymond noticed Hingis was “getting fussy.”

One point in the third set was fairly revealing in the story of Hingis’ escape of a second-round defeat. Raymond had broken Hingis’ serve to open the third set and held a 40-30 lead on her own serve to go up, 2-0. At 40-30, Raymond lined up to smack a forehand for a winner . . . and she knocked it just long.

Not by much.

But it was enough for Hingis to take that game, showing off her new survival skills on Wednesday. Hingis, who is seeded No. 2, defeated Raymond, 6-1, 4-6, 6-3, in one hour 36 minutes at the Manhattan Country Club in Manhattan Beach. Hingis finished the match off with an ace, only her second, and smiled widely.

The progress she had made in winning at La Costa on Sunday would have been erased with a loss to Raymond, a qualifier here.

“I didn’t want that to happen to me,” Hingis said. “I didn’t want to lose. You just hang in there. That’s what it’s all about. I’m a competitor.”

Raymond kept seeing that long forehand in the second game of the third set.

“I missed that forehand by a couple of inches,” she said. “That could have been the match.”

It was the first set Hingis has lost in five matches since she returned after a long hiatus that followed her opening-round loss at Wimbledon.

The Hingis-Raymond match was the most closely contested. The other second-round matches all ended in straight sets. Third-seeded Mary Pierce of France defeated Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-3, 7-5, in 1 hour 24 minutes, reversing a result from last week.

At the TIG Classic in La Costa, Sugiyama lost in qualifying but got into the draw later that day when Maggie Maleeva withdrew because of an injury. Sugiyama made the most of her break and defeated Pierce in three sets.

This time, Pierce was ready.

“I felt like there was a big difference from last week,” she said. “I made a lot of unforced errors and she played a great match [last week]. To beat her, you have to be on your game. This week, I was much more consistent.”

Also advancing were fourth-seeded Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, sixth-seeded Serena Williams and Julie Halard-Decugis of France. Halard-Decugis won her first match since Wimbledon, defeating Amy Frazier, 7-6 (7-5), 7-5. Williams needed only 47 minutes to beat Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, 6-3, 6-1.

Schnyder fought off three set points in the eighth game of the first set, and that was about it. She provided little resistance the rest of the way and finished the match in a desultory manner, winning only three points in the final three games.

Sanchez-Vicario, who defeated Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania, 6-3, 6-1, should be more of a test for Williams in the quarterfinals. They play tonight, and Williams has yet to beat her in four matches.

“Obviously, I’m going to have to play better than what I did today and be really consistent and attack her balls and expect her to get everything back,” Williams said. “And just know, I’m a big player. I’m probably better than what she is. She has a lot more titles than I do. Grand Slams. She’s a great player. I just have to make sure I’m focused.”

To that end, Williams is not playing doubles with her older sister, Venus, this week. Also, after losing in the final at La Costa on Sunday, Venus Williams said she was tired from too much tennis.

Sanchez-Vicario, the three-time French Open champion, has been having a subpar season, in part because of a chronic wrist injury. She missed about three months because of a strained ligament in her left wrist, and her ranking fell to No. 8.

She could not even toss the ball with her left hand to serve because of the wrist pain. The wrist, she said, is better now.

Acura Classic

STADIUM COURT

Manhattan Beach Country Club

* Beginning at 11 a.m.--Barbara Schett (7) vs. Natasha Zvereva; Lindsay Davenport (1) vs. Anke Huber; Conchita Martinez vs. Sandrine Morariu.

* 7 p.m.--Serena Williams (6) vs. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (4).