Hingis, back at number one after winning the Hamburg Cup last Sunday, made unusual unforced errors in the first set of her third round match but then picked up her game to move past her 22-year-old opponent, seeded 12th in the $1.08 million event.
``I had never played her before but my mother had watched her and told me to be careful,'' Hingis said. ``Her game is very similar to mine actually. She's really good.''
The 19-year-old Swiss was at first only a shadow of her brilliant self on a hot, sunny day in the German capital and was lucky to win the opening set.
Talaja, who won her first singles title this year in Gold Coast, Australia, was leading 6-5 when she wasted two set points. Hingis eventually broke her to force a tie-break, which she won 7-3 with a forehand winner on her second set point.
``Having won the first set made it a lot easier,'' said Hingis, who stepped up a gear in the second set, managing the telling break in the seventh game before wrapping it up with Talaja netting a forehand on the first match point.
``You always have a match like this in a tournament,'' added Hingis, who watched five seeded players lose on Wednesday. ``I was just hoping the same thing would not happen to me.''
Hingis goes on to meet France's Sandrine Testud, the fifth seed, who also recovered from a sluggish start before beating Denisa Chladkova of the Czech Republic 7-6 6-2.
``I've always beaten her but we've had some tough matches,'' Hingis said of Testud. ``You have to take her seriously. It's going to be a real test.''