Hingis, the champion in 1997 and playing here for the first time since 2001, lost 7-5, 3-6, 6-4 to Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama but is convinced she can turn defeat to her advantage.

"In the past, losses made me stronger. I knew what I had to work on to continue to progress," said the 25-year-old with 41 career titles to her name.

The Swiss refuses to treat defeat as a major setback having already marked her comeback season with a title in Rome as well as quarter-final runs at the Australian and French Opens.

At the start of the year, she was ranked 349; six months later she is the world number 15 and was seeded 12 here.

"I won Rome and I was still moving up. At the French Open, I didn't think I did anything wrong and I was playing better as the tournament progressed," said Hingis.

"But the quarterfinal was against Kim (Clijsters). You can't play her if you're not hundred percent.

"Then in the last couple of weeks, I've been training and I thought I was doing better. But there are certain things I have to think about."

Hingis is also convinced that her status as an outsider for a Grand Slam title can work in her favour and hopes to put that to good use when she heads to the US Open later in the summer.

"There is less pressure on me now. I'm still not the favorite to win Grand Slams. Definitely I'm in that kind of circle to be able to, but not someone who has won it recently.

"The pressure's not as big on me as some of the other players."

Hingis let a 3-0 lead in the final set slip against the 18th seeded Japanese on Friday.

"Even at 3-0, it was still very draining," said the 25-year-old Hingis.