Hingis crushes Maleeva at California West tournament

PALO ALTO, California, July 23 (Reuter) - Kicking off her three-week blitz of California in typical dominating fashion, Swiss world number one Martina Hingis crushed Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva 6-1 6-2 in 50 minutes in the second round of the $450,000 Bank of the West Classic Wednesday.

Joining the 1997 Australian Open and Wimbledon champion in the winners' circle were third seed Amanda Coetzer of South Africa and fourth-seeded American Lindsay Davenport.

Fifth seed Mary Pierce of France was shocked by wild card entry Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 3-6 6-1 6-4.

Hingis, who has lost only one match this year when she dropped the French Open final to Iva Majoli, played so fluidly that between points she was able to watch part of Coetzer's 6-2 6-0 victory over American Meilen Tu on the adjoining court.

"Why not?" asked Hingis, who will also play next week in San Diego and the following week in Manhattan Beach. "I was pretty well in control and they were having some good rallies."

The 22-year-old Maleeva was overwhelmed by the 16-year-old Hingis's improved serve and bullet returns of serve.

"Before the match I was looking forward to seeing how good she was and giving her a challenge," Maleeva said. "I guess I didn't do that. But yeah, she's good."

Maleeva tried to hit Hingis off the court and found herself on the receiving end of a lesson in how to counterpunch.

"You have to be aggressive against her because as soon as you're not, she dictates the points," Maleeva said. "I wish I was aggressive all the time and missed that way. Well, I guess I did do that."

Hingis said her nearly error-free display was a direct result of the confidence she gained from winning her first Wimbledon singles title earlier this month. "After winning Wimbledon, I don't have to be afraid of anything," Hingis said.

While Hingis and Coetzer cruised in their second-round matches, Pierce was stunned in the first round by Stanford University sophomore Kremer, playing on her college court.

Nursing a sore shoulder and wrist, the former Australian Open champion said poor movement and lack of practice lead to her error-laden performance.

"Everything happens for a reason and I'm trying to figure out what the reason was for why I played that way," Pierce said "I know I need a few more weeks of practice of the hard courts."

The 21-year-old Kremer, whose career highlight up to this point was helping Stanford to the national collegiate team championships last May, made the most of her wild card by showing off her superior foot speed and patience.

With some of her team-mates and coaches cheering her on, Kremer was able to close out her taller and stronger opponent on her home court. "It was really nice," Kremer said. "I was a little surprised. I didn't expect to win."

Pierce said of the crowd: "I probably made everybody's day here."

Kremer lost only one inter-college match this year and qualified for Wimbledon, seriously testing Hingis in a 6-4 6-4 first-round loss. "That match gave me a lot of confidence," Kremer said. "Then I knew I could play with the top-10 players, but I still didn't expect to beat Mary."

Davenport had a cakewalk in a 6-2 6-2 victory over countrywomen Sandra Cacic. Eighth seed Lisa Raymond of the United States was also an upset victim, losing 6-4 6-3 to Russian Elena Likhovtseva.

Second seed Monica Seles was to play her opening match Thursday evening againt Italy's Rita Grande.