Hingis fails to find her old feet

Switzerland's Martina Hingis, playing in her first grand slam championship since losing in this year's Australian Open final against Jennifer Capriati, was beaten 6-4, 6-2 by Monica Seles in the fourth round of the US Open yesterday.

She is clearly not yet fully fit after an operation on her left ankle in May, a ligament injury that at one point appeared career-threatening.

If Hingis, the former world No1, is ever to resume her battle with the Williams sisters, it is essential she recovers full mobility. It was obvious against Seles, who now plays the reigning champion Venus Williams for a place in the semi-finals, that she remains some way short of match fitness. This is perfectly understandable, given Hingis has played only two other tournaments since her comeback.

The 28-year-old Seles, US Open champion in 1991 and 1992, still relishes her tennis and earlier in the tournament denied any suggestion that she might be about to retire: "I just don't know where that rumour came from." She had not beaten Hingis in a slam event since the 1998 French Open semi-final but took a full toll of Hingis's rustiness here.

Venus Williams had a much tougher battle than she would have expected at this stage of a slam event, eventually edging through to the quarter-finals 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 against her fellow American Chanda Rubin. Even when the reigning champion led 4-1 in the third set, Rubin, whose career has been hampered by knee and wrist problems, managed to level. But after that she was always serving to stay in the match and eventually Williams produced the quality of shots that have made her a four-time grand slam champion.

Rubin, who recently defeated Serena Williams, mixed up her game cleverly and tried not to press too much. Her forehand can be a formidable weapon and, by hitting the ball deep to the baseline, she often forced Williams into errors.

"She definitely rose to the occasion and came up with some big shots in the third set," said the 26-year-old Rubin, a semi-finalist in the Australian Open six years ago and twice a quarter-finalist at Roland Garros.

Rubin won her very first meeting with Williams in 1997, the year Venus joined the professional circuit, but since then she had lost all seven encounters without winning a single set.

"Going into the match I knew she was going to get to more shots than anybody else and it forced me to play better and better," said Rubin. "I felt like I could win but I fell a bit short."