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Entry system ranking: 143 (282 points (-1)) Champions Race: 126 (7 points)(-3) Current tournament: Place: Monte Carlo, Monaco Next tournament:
Place: Munich, Germany
Date: April 29 - May 5, 2002 Draw Size: 32 Surface: Clay Prize Money: US $381,000 Stadium Court Seating: 3,800 Tournament Director: Rudi Berger Website: www.iphitos.de
Thanks Ivanna for the photo! (Norman in Bueno Aires)
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HINGIS, HEWITT CLAIMS ADDIDAS INTERNATIONAL SYDNEY, Australia -- Top-ranked Martina Hingis edged Lindsay Davenport, while Lleyton Hewitt made it back-to-back Adidas International titles when he erased Magnus Norman 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday's finals.Organizers said the Adidas International was the first time in the Open era that all finals, including men's and women's singles and doubles, featured No. 1 vs. No. 2 seeds. Hingis' 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 win against No. 2 Davenport reversed a trend, after Hewitt, the No. 2 seed, had upset top-seeded Norman in the men's singles. Russia's Anna Kournikova and Austrian Barbara Schett had earlier upstaged the top-seeded team of Lisa Raymond of the United States and Rennae Stubbs of Australia 6-2, 7-5 in the women's doubles final. The men's doubles decider, featuring the No. 1 combination of Daniel Nestor of Canada and Australia's Sandon Stolle against No. 2 seeded Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge, was scheduled for later Saturday. In the 15th finals clash between the world's top two women, Hingis broke Davenport in the seventh game to take a 5-3 lead and then served out for the opening set. But she was frustrated in the second set, destroying her racket after slamming it on the court when Davenport broke back from 2-4 to level at 4-4. Hingis earned an automatic code violation warning and was frustrated further when the 24-year-old American won the next two games to send the finale into a deciding third set. The pair exchanged breaks until 3-3, and then games went with serve until 5-5, when Davenport conceded three break points and then smashed an overhead forehand into the net to allow Hingis to serve for the match. Hingis won 10 of the last 11 points and sealed the championship when Davenport hit a forehand return wide down the line. The 20-year-old Swiss reversed her last two results Down Under against Davenport, who swept her in last year's Australian Open title match and in the 1999 Adidas International final. Hingis still trails in head-to-heads, reducing the gap to 10-12. Davenport now holds a 9-6 lead in their finals encounters. In the men's singles, Hewitt needed just 84 minutes to dispose of Norman, defend his Adidas title and avenge his fourth-round loss to the Swede at last year's Australian Open. The 19-year-old Australian waited patiently for his seventh career title. He saved a break point with an ace in the seventh game and then broke Norman's serve in the 12th game to take the set. Hewitt, seeded second here and ranked No. 7 in the world, blitzed the Swede in the second set, racing to a 5-0 lead before Norman held serve. The tenacious teen-ager closed out with an ace to move to championship point, then celebrated with a customary air punch when Norman sent a forehand long. Hewitt, who was on a 13-match winning stretch when he lost to Norman at the 2000 Australian Open, said he was in better shape for the upcoming Grand Slam tournament than he was last year. "I'm hitting the ball better than I was," he said, "I haven't played as many matches (in the leadup), but today I felt like I moved the ball around well, I didn't make too many errors." Hewitt is the third man to win the Sydney title twice. Pete Sampras won back-to-back championships in 1993 and '94, while Todd Martin won it in 1996 and again in 1999. Norman, who won five titles last year and a career-high 67 matches, lost in the first-round at Chennai, India, last week but reached the final here on three tough matches, including an all-Swedish semi against Jonas Bjorkman. "My legs weren't moving very good today, but I feel like my game is coming together even though I lost," he said. Norman rated Hewitt a strong contender to triumph next week at Melbourne Park. "Of course (Hewitt) can go all the way, he's one of the favorites," Norman said. "He's a big match player, he's a winner. One day sooner or later he's going to win a Grand Slam -- he's mentally very strong."
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