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Tennis: Retiring Martina Hingis' career comes to sudden halt

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Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/sports/10/28/martina-hingis-2017-102817.jpg"/><figcaption>Martina Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles after she emerged as a teenage prodigy in the 1990s, and later found success as a specialist in doubles, in which she has a further 20 major wins. Jeremy Lee, Reuters</figcaption></figure></div>Martina Hingis&#x27; glittering career came to a sudden end on Saturday when she suffered a shock doubles defeat at the WTA Finals -- her last tournament before retiring.Hingis and Taiwan&#x27;s Chan Yung-Jan, the world&#x27;s top pairing and reigning US Open champions, were beaten by third-ranked Timea Babos and Andrea Hlavackova 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the Singapore semi-finals.It ended a 19-match winning streak for Hingis and Chan -- and halted one of the great careers in tennis.Hingis admitted it was a &quot;disappointing&quot; way to bow out but said she had no regrets about her stellar career.&quot;I&#x27;m sure we both wish for a better ending and, you know, winning the trophy,&quot; she told reporters after the match. &quot;They were just too good today.&quot;&quot;I don&#x27;t think I have any regrets. I think it&#x27;s been an amazing journey and amazing career that I can be proud of.&quot;I&#x27;ll definitely miss it at some point in my life.&quot;Hingis won five Grand Slam singles titles after she emerged as a teenage prodigy in the 1990s, and later found success as a specialist in doubles, in which she has a further 20 major wins.The &quot;Swiss Miss&quot;, now 37, has retired twice before -- once after testing positive for a metabolite of cocaine -- but she said it was &quot;definite&quot; this time.Hingis and Chan were broken twice early in the first set and were unable to thwart their opponents&#x27; inspired play.The match took a twist when Babos injured her ankle late in the second set, but she gamely battled on to help deny Hingis a chance at a fairytale ending.Hingis, who inspired a young Roger Federer, said this week she wanted to remain in tennis after retirement, possibly as a coach.&quot;I think now it&#x27;s definite. It&#x27;s different, because before I walked away thinking I might come back,&quot; she told reporters on Thursday.&quot;After a season like this, I think it&#x27;s also perfect timing. You know, you want to stop on top and not when you&#x27;re already going backwards.&quot;I couldn&#x27;t ask for a better finish.&quot;Even though they lost, Hingis and Chan had already secured the year-end number one ranking in women&#x27;s doubles.(For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/">ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.)

Hingis and Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan, the world's top pairing and reigning US Open champions, were beaten in the Singapore semifinals.

Hingis and Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan, the world's top pairing and reigning US Open champions, were beaten in the Singapore semifinals.