Martina Hingis puts Davenport out of Pacific Life Open

Today's Sony Ericsson WTA Tour headline reads "Hingis Downs Davenport in the Desert," and who would have thought it? I am a very big fan of Lindsay Davenport, and also of Martina Hingis, so I had no clear favorite. I didn't have to: Hingis's second serves are still weak enough that I thought Davenport would make very quick work of them. There is no one on the tour who eats second serves faster and better than Lindsay Davenport, and Indian Wells is kind of "her" tournament, despite her loss in last year's final to Kim Clijsters.

I didn't get to see the match, but apparently, Hingis outfoxed even the tour's best returner of serve. Now she will face Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals, and it is entirely likely she will wind up in the finals again, as she did in Tokyo.

Since re-entering the tour, Hingis has recorded victories over both Maria Sharapova (who got back at her in the Tokyo final) and Davenport. Her first serve has improved, her topspin has improved, and her fitness has improved. Her biggest problems have been her second serve and her endurance. If she continues to improve, we will see a better Hingis than we saw in her "heydey," and she will get to the top 10 and maybe then some.