FRANKFURT, December 4: Martina Hingis gained revenge for a quarterfinal loss to Mary Pierce at the Chase Championships last month, defeating Pierce 7-6, 6-4 yesterday at the start of the first Masters of Champions Tennis Tournament in Frankfurt.

The 17-year-old Swiss star started nervously against an equally unsteady Pierce, but held her game to take the tiebreaker first set 7-2, then wrapped up the match in 72 minutes.

In an earlier match, Lindsay Davenport of the United States defeated Irina Spirlea of Romania 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in a group two face off, and South African Amanda Coetzer defeated Anke Huber of Germany 6-3, 6-4. The latter two are in group one with Hingis and Pierce.

In a late group two match, French Open Champion Iva Majoli of Croatia defeated Mary Joe Fernandez of the United States 7-5, 6-3.

If the winner of the tournament remains undefeated over four days of play, she receives the top possible purse of $437,850 after Sunday's final.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.