World top-ranked player Martina Hingis of Switzerland got a flying start in the new year Wednesday when she outclassed American veteran Mary Joe Fernandez in straight sets in the Hong Kong Millennium Cup.

"It's quite OK. Winning the first match gave me confidence in the coming Australian Open," said Hingis.

The first set turned out to be a breaking game when the two players broke each other in the first six games before Hingis took the first set 6-3.

The second set saw the world number one attacking with more powerful returns and sound movement in the court while Fernandez began making more unforced errors and could not cope with Hingis' speedy and angled returns.

Hingis won the second set 6-1 and the match in just one hour.

The 29-year-old Fernandez, who stayed out of the WTA tour for along time because of her health and was broken in every serving game, said Hingis played very well.

"She (Hingis) was hard and powerful in the court today," said world number 38 Fernandez who has been playing on the WTA tour for 15 years and reached a career high ranking of four in 1995.

Hingis, 19 years old, vowed to defend her status as world number one player in the new year.

In the day's other match, 27-year-old French veteran Sandrine Testud met strong resistance from 15-year-old Russian Lyna Krasnoroutskaya, world junior number one player, who won with a score of 6-4, 5-7 and 2-6.

Hingis will face Testud in the semi-final on Friday.

The four-day invitational tournament features four other world top-ranking star players, including Mary Pierce and Virgnie Razzano from France and Jennifer Capriati and Chanda Rubin from the United States. (Xinhua)