What rocked:
+ MARIA SHARAPOVA [4] d. Daniela Hantuchová, 6-4 7-5

What sucked:
- Daniela Hantuchová lt. MARIA SHARAPOVA [4], 4-6 5-7
- VERA ZVONAREVA [6] lt. Alicia Molik, 3-6 7-5 2-6
- (1r) Tatiana Golovin [Q] lt. Ana Ivanovic [Q], 5-7 7-6(2) 6-7(3)
- (1r Tuesday) Karolina Šprem lt. VENUS WILLIAMS [7], 2-6 2-6


Daniela put up terrific resistance against Maria, but once again,
she was let down by an inability to convert big opportunities.

Daniela led 5-2 in the second set, served for it at 5-3, and had two
set-points on Maria's serve at 4-5 15/40. But Maria "relied on her
serve to bail her out of trouble." [1]

How did they play?
* Maria "proved more consistent with a string of powerful baseline
strokes." [2]
* Daniela "showed some of her old form" [3], but needs to work on
her mobility as well as her psychological side. [4]

I followed point-by-point scores at the tournament website:
http://www.swisscom-challenge.com/index.php?pn=scoreboard

They came onto court at 17:56 CEST (immediately following the
Zvonareva v Molik match), and play actually started at 18:09.


First Set

(BP = break-point, SP = set-point)

Daniela 0-0: 40/0,, 40/30, held
Mashara 0-1: 40/0, 40/15, held
Daniela 1-1: 0/30,, 30/30, 40/30, held
Mashara 1-2: 40/0, 40/15, held
Daniela 2-2: 0/30,, 30/30, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad M (BP #2), Deuce
#2, ad D, Deuce #3, ad D, Deuce #4, ad M (BP #3), broken
Mashara 3-2: 0/15, 15/15, 30/15, 30/30, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad D (BP
#2), Deuce #2, ad M, held
Daniela 2-4: held to love
Mashara 4-3: 0/15, 15/15, 15/30, 30/30, 40/30, 40/40, ad M, held
Daniela 3-5: 0/15, 15/15, 30/15, 30/30, 40/30, held
Mashara 5-4: 15/0, 15/15,, 40/15 (2 SPs), Maria won first set 6-4 at
18:51.

A very serve-dominated set, with break-points occurring in two games
only - Maria converted hers, but Daniela failed to convert in the
next game, which would have given her the break back.

I feel that Daniela's good start was crucial to her winning nine
games from Maria, because her confidence is much more fragile than
Maria's. Things could have been much worse for Daniela if, for
example, she had lost all three of her game-points in the first game
of the match.


Second Set

Daniela 0-0: 30/0, 30/15, 40/15, 40/30, held
Mashara 0-1: 0/15, 15/15, 15/30, 15/40 (2 BPs),, 40/40, ad M, held
Daniela 1-1: 30/0, 30/15, 40/15, held
Mashara 1-2: 30/0, 30/15, 40/15,, 40/40, ad M, Deuce #2, ad M, Deuce
#3, ad M, held
Daniela 2-2: 0/15, 15/15, 30/15, 30/30, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad M (BP
#2), Deuce #2, ad D, held
Mashara 2-3: 30/0, 30/15, 40/15,, 40/40, ad D (BP), broken
Daniela 4-2: 30/0, 30/15, 30/30, 40/30, held
Mashara 2-5: held to love
Daniela 5-3: 0/15, 15/15,, 15/40 (2 BPs), 30/40, broken
Mashara 4-5: 0/15, 15/15, 15/30, 15/40 (2 SPs),, 40/40, ad M, held
Daniela 5-5: 15/0, 15/15, 15/30, 30/30, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad M (BP
#2), Deuce #2, ad M (BP #3), Deuce #3, ad D, Deuce #4, ad D, Deuce
#5, ad D, Deuce #6, ad M (BP #4), Deuce #7, ad M (BP #5), Deuce #8,
ad M (BP #6), broken
Mashara 6-5: Maria served it out to love, winning 6-4 7-5 at 19:56.

Wonderful resistance from Daniela in the second set, but it's the
sign of a champion that Maria twice recovered from 15/40 to hold
serve.

Statistics:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X45732499

Maria served 11 aces, and won 66% of her service-points while
Daniela won 57% of hers. Maria broke three times from 13 break-
points, Daniela once from 7 BPs.

I draw two conclusions from these statistics:
1. Because Maria served better than Daniela, she generated more
opportunities for herself - on Daniela's serve as well as her own.
2. Maria converted a higher percentage of her opportunities than
Daniela did of hers, because Maria is a better match-player.


Photos from the official tournament website:
http://www.swisscom-challenge.com/index.php?pn=pictures

Photos of Daniela:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=137491

Photos of Maria:
http://search.news.yahoo.com/search/news?c=news_photos&p=sharapova

Off-court photos of Maria, Vera and others:
http://www.wtatour.com/photogallery/


"Maria Sharapova" is officially the most popular search-term on the
Internet now! [5]


References:
[1] http://www.wtatour.com/newsroom/stories/NewsArticle_5593_rx.asp
[2] CEEFAX p.487, "Sharapova battles past Hantuchová"
[3] Teletext p.495->498, "Sharapova defeats Hantuchová"
[4] http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=137491&goto=nextnewest
[5] http://www.wtatour.com/newsroom/stories/NewsArticle_5589_rx.asp

--
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/