Hingis wins

DEN BOSCH, JUNE 24. World No. 1 Martina Hingis won the women's final at the Heineken Trophy grass court tennis tournament on Saturday after her opponent, Romanian Ruxandra Dragomir withdrew with a toe injury while trailing 6-2, 3-0.

Earlier on Friday, Patrick Rafter survived a rush of errors in the second set before downing Moroccan No. 6 seed Karim Alami 6- 3, 3-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

The Australian No. 3 seed netted three balls in game two of the second set to drop service and allow Alami to race to a 3-0 lead and dominate the set on Friday.

But Rafter, who has now won 13 straight matches in three campaigns at Den Bosch and is bidding for his third straight title, rediscovered the aggression in his play to take the final set.

The results:

Women: final: Martina Hingis bt Ruxandra Dragomir 6-2, 3-0 (withdrew). Semifinals: Hingis bt Jennifer Capriati 7-5, 6-2; Dragomir bt Kristina Brandi 6-2, 6-3.

Men: quarterfinals: Patrick Rafter bt Karim Alami 6-3, 3-6, 6-3; Magnus Gustafsson bt Martin Damm 6-3, 3-6, 7-5; Michael Chang bt Karsten Braasch 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-2); Nicolas Escude bt Francisco Clavet 7-5, 6-4.

- AP

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Section  : Sport
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