1999

LOOK WHO'S NUMBER ONE AGAIN

Technology Integration Group, a San Diego-based computer reseller, signed on as the new title sponsor and the tournament was now known as the TIG Tennis Classic. Prize money was also increased from $450,000 to $520,000.

A focused and determined Martina Hingis arrived in San Diego the Friday before the tournament started.

She had lost her number one ranking and was coming off an emotional loss to Steffi Graf in the French Open finals and a stunning first round exit to Jelena Dokic at Wimbledon.

The second-seeded Hingis was all business in her preparation for the TIG Tennis Classic. "I've been here four times," she said. "I've done all this Wild Animal Park, Sea World. I want to concentrate on my tennis right now."

	Anna Kournikova being interviewd during Kid's Day.

The Swiss Miss did exactly that as she began the tournament with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over American Chanda Rubin, who had beaten her earlier in the year.

Hingis defeated Dominique Van Roost of Belgium, 6-2, 6-4 and South Africa's Amanda Coetzer, 6-1, 6-2 to set up a final with hard-serving Venus Williams, the fourth seed.

Williams had looked impressive in the early rounds. In the quarterfinals, she was down 1-5 to Sandrine Testud before winning 11 games in a row. In the semifinals, she defeated defending champion Lindsay Davenport, 6-4, 7-5.

In the finals, Hingis used her pinpoint groundstrokes to keep Williams off balance on her way to a 6-4, 6-0 victory before a sold out crowd of 6,300 at the La Costa Resort & Spa.

Williams, who hits one of the hardest serves on the tour, could only hold serve twice and was clearly tired by the end of the match.

Victory was sweet for Hingis. Following the match, she said, "I played one of my best matches ever." Hingis not only regained the tournament title she won two years earlier, but also regained the number one ranking in the world.

In the doubles championship, Venus and Serena Williams fell to Davenport and Corina Morariu 6-4, 6-1.

	Martina Hingis (left) and Venus Williams at the trophy presentation.

Graf Retires

The tournament will go down in history as the last official tournament appearance for Steffi Graf. The tennis legend, seeded third, received a first round bye and was playing Amy Frazier.

Trailing 5-6 in the second set, Graf asked for the trainer, who wrapped her left leg. Graf later said she had suffered a hamstring injury.

With Frazier leading 4-6, 7-5, 2-1, Graf could not continue and retired from the match. "I tried somehow to struggle with it. I've had strains before," she said. "This was definitely more severe."

Ten days later, at a news conference near her hometown of Bruhl, Germany, the 30-year-old Graf officially retired. "I'm not having fun anymore," she said. "I have nothing left to prove."

She had made her decision to quit two weeks before when she was flying to San Diego for the TIG Tennis Classic.

Graf, who had fought through numerous injuries in recent years, retired with 107 tournament titles, including 22 Grand Slams. She spent a record 377 weeks as the number one player in the world.

	Corina Morariu (left) and Lindsay Davenport

Anna Arrives

Russian starlet, Anna Kournikova, made her first San Diego County appearance. She defeated qualifier Meilen Tu, 6-2, 7-6 (4) before losing in the second round to Amanda Coetzer, 6-0, 1-6, 6-1.

During her matches, a group of teen-age boys stood atop the last row of the east grandstands without shirts. Each one of them had a letter painted on his chest to spell K-O-U-R-N-I-K-O-V-A.

On Monday during the tournament, she took part in a Kids Day clinic on stadium court to the delight of hundreds of children. "I remember when I was young, I had some clinics in Russia," she said. "I remember how fun it is for kids."

Tournament Notes

The depth of the tournament could be clearly seen in the qualifying event. Germany's Anke Huber won three matches to qualify for the main draw. In her final qualifying match, she outlasted Anne-Gaelle Sidot of France, 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4.

Ai Sugiyama of Japan, a quarterfinalist the previous year, was beaten in the last round of qualifying by Meilen Tu, 3-6, 7-5, 6-1. In her first qualifying match, Sugiyama eliminated 1997 French Open champion Iva Majoli, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

	Venus (left) and Serena Williams

Allison Bradshaw, a local product who was playing at Arizona State, lost to Huber in the first round of qualifying.

Fifth-ranked Monica Seles withdrew from the tournament due to an arm injury she suffered the week before during the United States' Fed Cup victory over Italy. "San Diego is one of my favorite stops on the WTA Tour," she said. "I had some great results there. I'm sorry to miss it."

In the post match on-court ceremony Fox TV analyst, Tracy Austin, committed a slip of the tongue as she said, "How about a big round of applause for a great week.Martina Navratilova."

Hingis joked, "I guess Tracy played one too many matches against her."