By Etienne Stekelenburg
October 17 2002

Watched by her fellow countrywoman Martina Hingis, the Swiss Patty Schnyder defeated the Czech Denisa Chladkova to earn herself a place in the second round. Schnyder, ranked at #19, has all Swiss eyes on her. now that Martina Hingis is not playing the Swisscom Challenge held in Zurich Switzerland. The 23-year-old qualifier Schyder presented an impressive performance beating the Czech Denisa Chladkova 6:2 6:3.

Allthough her good performance in the first round she did lose the chance to play at the season ending WTA Masters."I have tried to forget about qualifying for the Masters and I feel that takes a lot of pressure off my shoulders," said
Schnyder "I am just trying to have fun and enjoy myself in front of the home crowd. I like to play here and if I play well the crowd helps me a lot."

Martina Hingis, who was present at the tournament for sponsors and an autograph session, pulled out of the tournament after losing to Dementieva in Filderstadt last week. She decided to end the season due to fysical problems after she had surgery on both her ankles. She felt she didn’t play at her best and didn’t want to disappoint her fans and herself with a bad performance in front of her Swiss homecrowd.

Another Swiss player, Marie Gaiane Mikaelian, reached the third round when she ousted Russia’s Anastasia Myskina. After getting a wild card Mikaelian defeated Maggie Maleeva in the first round. Her start against Myskina was poor and she lost the first set on 6:0 in only 19 minutes. "I just put the first set out of my mind," said Mikaelian. "I told myself it hadn't happened and that it was starting again”

The 18-year-old, who is ranked # 48, was cheered on by the Swiss public and managed to drain her far more experienced Russian opponent Myskina. "It was a catastrophe, but I won my confidence back and the public helped me a lot." Mikaelian said at the pressconference who won the match 0:6 6:4 7:5.

The Swiss teenager will now face Justine Henin in the next round. Who defeated Israels Smashnova 6:3 6:3