Martina Hingis has quick start on comeback

Former world number one Martina Hingis may not be contemplating a return to WTA singles play, but she got her doubles comeback off to a quick start on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old Swiss great played her first WTA match since 2007 at the Southern California Open, teaming with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova for a 6-1, 6-1 doubles victory over Germany’s Julia Goerges and Croatian Darija Jurak.

Hingis has retired twice, first at the age of 22 in 2003 and again in November of 2007 -- which ended a comeback she launched in 2005.

Hingis has said she’ll play doubles with Hantuchova at the US Open, the year’s final Grand Slam. But she said Wednesday she wasn’t contemplating a return to singles play.

‘Not singles, no,’ she said. ‘It’s a completely different world. Even World Team Tennis now, it’s brutal, it’s only one set but still the next day you wake up, and you have to put so much more effort into it.’

azarenka wins

Top-seeded Victoria Azarenka, playing for the first time since an injury withdrawal from Wimbledon, celebrated her birthday with a WTA win at Carlsbad on Wednesday. She cruised into the quarter-finals with a 6-2, 6-3 second-round victory over former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy.

‘Just going on the court and competing was so much joy for me,’ said Azarenka, who turned 24 on Wednesday. Petra Kvitova, the third seed, beat Britain’s Laura Robson 6-1, 6-2.