LONDON, June 27: Martina Hingis shrugged off talk of indifferent form to blast her way into the fourth round at the Wimbledon tennis tournament today but former champion Conchita Martinez's campaign was ended by an unlikely Briton.Defending champion Hingis, four times a Grand Slam winner, made hard work of her opening two matches and admitted to feeling the pressure, conceding that she needed to move faster to successfully defend her title.
The 17-year-old Swiss looked in a decided hurry against Elena Likhovtseva, ranked 24 in the world, ruthlessly beating the Russian 6-2, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.
Martinez, the eighth seed, came unstuck against an opponent ranked 87 places below her, Samantha Smith. Urged on by enthusiastic home support, Smith, who had never won a match in five previous attempts at Wimbledon, held her nerve in the deciding set to outwit her more fancied opponent 2-6, 6-3, 7-5. French open champion Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario kept the Spanish flag flying over Wimbledon, finishing offPoland's Magdalena Grzybowska 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 in a second-round match which stretched over three days because of rain interruptions.
Hingis successfully defended her Australian Open title in January but suffered a painful defeat against Monica Seles in the semifinals of the French Open.
Fire at Wimbledon
Play was halted at Wimbledon's court 18 this afternoon after fire swept through a tower block overlooking the All England Club.
Spectators of the Todd Woodbridge-Todd Martin match were shepherded away along with fans picnicking in Aorangi Park as precaution.
HOW THE SEEDS FARED
Men's singles: 12-Tim Henman (Britain) bt Byron Black (Zimbabwe) 6-4 6-4 3-6 7-5
Women's singles (3rd round): 16-Nathalie Tauziat (France) bt Julie Halard-Decugis (France) 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-4; 1-Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Elena Likhovtseva (Russia) 6-2 6-1; Samantha Smith (Britain) bt 8-Conchita Martinez (Spain) 2-6 6-3 7-5.
2nd round: 5-Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (Spain) bt MagdalenaGrzybowska (Poland) 4-6 6-4 6-3.
OTHER RESULTS
Men's singles: 3rd round: John van Lottum (Netherlands) bt Tommy Haas (Germany) 6-3 6-3 6-3, Mark Philippoussis (Australia) bt Daniele Bracciali (Italy) 6-3 6-4 6-4, Magnus Larsson (Sweden) bt Hicham Arazi (Morocco) 6-3 6-3 6-2, Jason Stoltenberg (Australia) bt Mark Woodforde (Australia) 6-1 3-6 6-3 3-6 6-3.
2nd round: Francisco Clavet (Spain) bt Guillermo Canas (Argentina) 6-7 (2-7) 2-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 6-4.
Women's singles (2nd round): Chanda Rubin (US) bt Tara Snyder (US) 3-6 7-5 11-9.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
