Martina Hingis of Switzerland retired from tennis with a defeat in the doubles semifinal of the WTA Finals held in Singapore.
The 37-year-old Hingis and Taiwanese partner Chan Yung-jan suffered a 4-6, 6-7 (5) defeat against Hungarian Timea Babos and Czech Andrea Hlavackova in one hour and 43 minutes on Saturday, reports Efe.
"I believe the time has come for me to retire, which I will be doing after my last match here in Singapore," the former World No. 1 in singles - and current co-world No. 1 in doubles along with Chan, had announced on Thursday.
The retirement decision came 23 years after Hingis's first appearance on the international circuit.
She has won 114 titles across all competitions, including 25 Grand Slam titles: five in singles (all as a teenager between 1997 and 1999), 13 in women's doubles and seven in mixed doubles.
Of her Grand Slam doubles titles, 11 came since she first retired due to injuries in 2003.
She returned to the sport in 2006 but then retired again a year later after the International Tennis Federation banned her for two years for a positive cocaine test.
Hingis denied using that recreational drug but did not contest the ban.
The third phase of her career began in 2013, a four-year stretch in which she won the doubles titles at Wimbledon (2015), the 2015 US Open and 2016 Australian Open with India's Sania Mirza and the 2017 US Open with Chan.
--IANS
sam/vm
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
