Martina Hingis, the queen of world tennis, arrived at the Dubai Tennis Stadium at 10.15am for practice yesterday. Unlike Mary Pierce, who sat unnoticed amid the spectators on Monday, Hingis was immediately spotted by the fans.

Walking onto the centre court, surrounded by security men, she did a few stretching exercises. Hingis had arrived only Monday night from Qatar after beating Sandrine Testud in Sunday's final.

After jogging around the court for about 15 minutes, she picked up her racquet and began to hit the ball with former Indian Davis Cup player and the coach of Al Wasl Club, Zeeshan Ali, who is the top seed's practice partner during her stay in Dubai.

Each practice session Hingis limited to a short span, not wanting to strain herself. After loosening up, Hingis went on to display some of her classic baseline shots, pausing at time to check with Zeeshan if the ball was good. Zeeshan has been practising with Hingis for the last two years, since his visit to the Harry Hopman Tennis Academy in the U.S. Having go a feel of the DecoTurf (II) surface, she packed up quickly. Coming out of the Centre Court, she was swarmed by fans. Flashing her famous smile, she walked away briskly, escorted by the security men.

For those fans who were seeing Hingis face to face for the first time, it came as a shock to discover that she was not all that tall. In fact, a few were even heard commenting that she looked much taller on the television. Greeting a few of the players who were going out to practice, Hingis walked into the changing rooms at the Aviation Club. Inside, she stopped to look at some of the merchandise being sold at the Dubai Duty Free store.

At 2.30pm she was back on Court No 4. This time she began working on her volleys. She also served for a long time and often rushed to the net. At times she hit fluent baseline winners. Such is her magnetism that many tennis fans who had been watching matches on the adjacent courts, turned their attention to Hingis practicing. Fans even applauded her brilliant baseline shots.

Zeeshan, who is playing in the men's qualifiers for the Dubai Tennis Championship, was made to hurry at times.  After sweating it out for nearly two hours, Hingis collected all the balls that were lying at the different corners of the court by herself and walked towards the Aviation Club, followed by a troupe of autograph hunters. She obliged a few, for the rest, she flashed the trade-mark Hingis smile.