G'DAY FOR NEW STARS; HINGIS CLAIMS TITLE IN GRAND MANNER.

Byline: Terry Egan Dallas Morning News

The numbers that tell the story about Martina Hingis are these: 16, 63, 2, 3.

Hingis is just 16 years old. She is 63-2 in match play this year. And Sunday, she made it three titles won in Grand Slam events for 1997.

With more ease than anyone could have imagined, Hingis defeated Venus Williams 6-0, 6-4 to win her first U.S. Open title. She adds the Open trophy to a mantle that includes trophies from Wimbledon and the Australian Open earlier this year. Only five other women in history have won three of the four Grand Slam events in a season.

Had Hingis not fallen off a horse named Tina in Switzerland and had surgery on her left knee just weeks before the French Open, maybe she would have won all four Grand Slam events.

Having already won more than $4.6 million in her brief career, Hingis is on her way to posting one of the finest years in history. The only matches she lost were in the French final against Iva Majoli and at Manhattan Beach last month against Lindsay Davenport.

Sunday, Hingis made just 15 unforced errors. Of the 20 times she went to the net, she won the point 15 times. Her service was broken just once, in the second set, and she broke back in the next game. That's how dominant she was.

Hingis put the brakes on the coming-out party of Williams, 17, who rolled through the U.S. Open draw and became the first unseeded woman to advance to the finals in the Open era, dating to professionals' admittance to the event in 1968. She was also the first player to reach the Open final in her debut at the tournament since Pam Shriver lost in 1978.

After talking her protective parents into allowing her to compete at New York, Williams endured charges of unfriendliness from other players during the two-week event. On Saturday, her father alleged some players had been racist toward his daughter in recent days.

She ignored it all, kept winning, and said she was confident entering her first final.

But Hingis is not ranked No. 1 in the world for nothing. Williams served first Sunday and Hingis immediately broke her. Hingis roared through the first set, posting a rare love set in a U.S. Open final.

``In the first set she made a lot of mistakes and I didn't make many myself,'' Hingis said. ``In the first set, I played my best tennis. I just played the game, tried to be aggressive, let her make the mistakes.

``You have to mix it up against her. You can't allow her to play her game. Her ground strokes are very powerful and her backhand is very dangerous.''

By mixing her shots, Hingis forced Williams into plenty of errors (17 unforced errors in the first set). Williams even dumped several backhands - her best shot - into the net. Hingis also kept Williams off balance with an array of different looks, and by changing the pace on each shot.

``It was one of my weaknesses, maybe my only weakness,'' Williams said of her 38 errors - 23 more than Hingis. ``That's something I cut down a lot on in this tournament. Maybe in the future, six months from now, that will be something that will pass.''

Williams admitted she was nervous, perhaps explaining why she double-faulted three times in the first set - this from a player with a remarkable serve.

``I think it's natural to be nervous in a situation like that,'' Williams said.

Clearly, on the 40th anniversary of Althea Gibson becoming the first black woman to win what was then called the U.S. Championships, Williams sparked the world of tennis. She served notice that she is on her way to becoming one of the dominant women on the tour.

But the most dominant woman is Hingis, and she made that clear Sunday.

``I just played very good tennis,'' Hingis said. ``I'm very happy with my tennis game. It's been a great year.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

PHOTO (1--Cover--color) PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Before men's champ Patrick Rafter draws comparisons to former Aussie stars, reigning No. 1 woman Martina Hingis, right, teaches fellow wunderkind Venus Williams a lesson and wins her third Grand Slam of '97 at the U.S. Open finals. Page 11.

(2) Martina Hingis, right, easily beat Venus Williams for her third Grand Slam title in 1997.

Associated Press