Today, Daniela Hantuchová defeated Wimbledon 2002 girls' singles
champion Vera Douchevina 6-1 6-4 to set up a mouthwatering second-
round showdown with the girl whom Douchevina beat in that final,
Maria Sharapova.

I must say it sucks that Douchevina was given a wild card while
Tatiana Golovin had to qualify despite her ranking of #29. It's
possible that the winner of Maria v Daniela would face Golovin in
the quarter-finals if Tatiana can get past first Ana Ivanovic then
the winner of Venus Williams v Karolina Šprem (here's hoping Šprem
can truly achieve the victory she was prematurely awarded by He Who
Must Not Be Named at Wimbledon).


I am a big fan of both Daniela and Maria, and I'm going to support
Daniela this time. Daniela's confidence seems very low at the
moment - she has only got past the second round six times in 22
previous tournaments this year - so a win over Maria would do her a
power of good.

Nothing can tarnish the amazing year Maria has had, and coming off
back-to-back titles at Seoul and Tokyo, her confidence must be
pretty high at the moment. Realistically I don't think she'll give
Daniela much chance at all, so the more games Daniela can get off
Maria, the better it will be for women's tennis IMO.

When they met in the third round of Wimbledon, Daniela was just
coming off a final at Eastbourne where she had served for the title
at 6-2 6-5 against Svetlana Kuznetsova... and Maria thrashed her 6-3
6-1. Maria was in a total zone that day, seeing the ball like a
cantaloupe in slow motion.

But that was grass - Maria's favourite surface because when she hits
the ball, it stays hit. Maria still has much to learn before she'll
be as effective on hard courts - the surface on which Daniela won
her first (and latest) WTA singles title at Indian Wells 2002. And
Daniela did beat Maria 7-6 6-1 at Tokyo in February.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/hantu/
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/shara/

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/danielahantuchova/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sizzlingsharapova/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jeldani/