Martina Hingis had a rollercoaster ride into the quarter-finals of the $170,000 WTA Qatar Open when she defeated Venzuelan wild card entry Maria Vento 7-6 6-1 today.
Hingis was playing her first match after a bye into the second round while Vento had a confidence-boosting first-round win over Barbara Rittner of Germany.
World number one Hingis's opponent in the last four will be South Africa's Joannette Kruger, who survived a mid-match slump before emerging a 6-3 3-6 6-2 winner over gritty Australian Annabel Ellwood.
Vento gave Hingis a scare in the first set when the Swiss was trailing 5-4 and serving 40-15 down.
The Venzuelan's form had raised visions of an upset but she squandered her chances, first by netting a back-hand return and then by hitting long, allowing Hingis ultimately to level the set at 5-5.
Both players, who broke the opponent twice each, held their next serves to force the tie-breaker and Hingis used her vast experience to win the tie-break 7-4.
"It was indeed an up and down match. But I think it is always good to have a tough first match," Hingis said.
"Maria has a very good baseline game, but I was always comfortable. If she continues her form like this she can be a very good player in the future."
After the keenly-contested first set, which lasted nearly an hour, Hingis raised the level of her game, adding more power in her serves and imparting a lot of spin in her returns.
She got the angles right, too, and also beat Vento with her deft drop shots. She broke Vento three times in the second set which lasted just 23 minutes. REUTERS