Hingis, playing her first match in the Middle East, took 81 minutes to beat Vento, a wild card entrant.

Hingis will next meet Joenette Kruger of South Africa, a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 winner over Annabel Ellwood of Australia.

In other matches, third-seeded Sandrine Testud of France defeated Selima Sfar of Tunisia 6-3, 6-4, and No. 6 Henrietta Nagyova of Hungary beat Marlene Weingartner of Germany 6-3, 6-3.

``It was an up and down match for me,'' Hingis said. ``I haven't played for the last 10 days and perhaps that restricted me in some ways.''

Hingis took the match away from Vento in dramatic fashion. At 6-5 and 40-15 up, Vento missed her best chance to win the first set, hitting an easy volley into the net. After that mistake, Hingis won the next three points to force the tiebreaker.

Hingis took a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker and was in command. She won the first set in 58 minutes and produced three more service breaks in the second set.

Hingis said that after winning the first set, she knew she was headed for victory.

``I had the confidence to go all the way,'' she said. ``I think the reason I struggled in the first set was because I was using a new racket. I still have to get used to it.''