You must see the movie, the sand in my eyes
I walk through a desert song when the heroine dies

[David Bowie, "The Secret Life Of Arabia" from _"Heroes"_]

-----------
First round
-----------

+ Daniela Hantuchová d. ALICIA MOLIK [6], 7-6 (10/8) 6-2

A fantastic result for Daniela, considering that Molik pushed Maria
Sharapova all the way in the Dubai final last Saturday, and "was
sort of becoming a nightmare" for Daniela. But their head-to-head on
the WTA Tour and Grand Slams is now 3-3.

Daniela trailed 1-4 and 2-5 against Molik in the first set, and
saved set-point at 6/7 in the tiebreak. In the second set, she was
able to exploit Molik's weak one-handed backhand. Thanks to the
Dubai thread at Daniela's WTAworld forum:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=153738

------------
Second round
------------

+ Daniela Hantuchová d. Elena Likhovtseva, 7-5 6-4

Lovely Likhovtseva was probably a sitting duck for Daniela after
cramping due to dehydration in her long first-round battle, but it's
been two years since Daniela has had such a string of good results.

Daniela squandered a 5-3 lead in the first set, and was missing lots
of break-points. But she finished the match "with a superb forehand
cross-court, forehand down the line combination"
[ http://makeashorterlink.com/?C27112C9A ]


Daniela: "It is a difficult court to play on. Very fast and
sometimes you feel you have no control over the ball.

"It was really difficult out there and I just tried to make sure I
put as many balls as possible in court, and not go for too many
crazy shots or go for the lines.

"I also find I can handle difficult situations better. It's been one
of the most important things for me that I have gained experience
and know better what to do at crucial times."

-------------
Quarter-final
-------------

- Daniela Hantuchová lt. SERENA WILLIAMS [2], 6-4 6-3

Serena Williams had thrashed Daniela in their only two meetings,
both in Grand Slam quarter-finals: 6-2 6-2 at Wimbledon 2002, 6-2
6-3 at the US Open 2002. Daniela was in good form, but Serena was
like an unsinkable buoy; it seemed then that she and Venus Williams
were the only players preventing Daniela from winning a Grand Slam
singles title.

Daniela and Serena have both gone through so much since 2002, and
are both returning to form in early 2005. But Serena is a far cry
from the fearsome player of 2002, even though she won the Australian
Open and is the only player to beat Maria Sharapova (outside of an
exhibition) this year. What Serena does have now is tremendous
fighting spirit.

I didn't expect Daniela to win, but I expected her to get a closer
score than in their previous meetings: perhaps 6-4 7-5 or something
like that - so I was not far off the mark.


From Teletext (UK):
>>>
Unseeded Daniela Hantuchová's great run was stopped by a powerful
performance from second seed Serena Williams.

Hantuchová had beaten Alicia Molik en route to the quarters, but
Williams raced into a 4-1 lead with big serving.

Williams broke the Slovak's fragile serve five times, and hit five
aces in claiming a 6-4 6-3 win in 67 minutes.
<<<

It's a shame to see Daniela's serve described as "fragile" because
when I became a Daniela fan during Wimbledon 2001, I thought she had
the loveliest serve in the world, and an extremely effective one at
that. I'm no technical coach, but when I saw her practising close-up
at Eastbourne 2003, I got the impression that she was dropping her
head prematurely when she served.

Daniela can hit kick-serves like no other woman, and had one of the
best second serves... but apparently her second serve was one of her
biggest weaknesses against Williams on Thursday. This, then, is what
Daniela and her coach Nigel Sears should be focusing on now.


From Yahoo! Sports: Tennis
>>>
Williams remained unbeaten in 2005 through 10 matches, racing to a
5-1 lead against Hantuchová.

But she dropped her serve in the eighth game, serving a double fault
and netting a volley on the run at 30-40.

Hantuchová climbed back to 4-5 but Williams served two of her six
aces to finish the set.

In the second set, Williams showed some deft touches at the net to
break in the third game, then lost the fourth on a double-fault. She
rallied to break Hantuchová again in the next game, and later ended
the match on an overhead winner.
<<<

Williams: "I definitely had fun today. It was a nice match. I didn't
want to get off to a slow start again, especially against someone
like Daniela. I moved better today, and I just think I was a little
more focused. It's getting used to this court and the ball, and each
day I get better.

"I'm unbeaten this year, so I guess I'm feeling pretty confident
although I haven't played that much. The courts here really suit my
game because they are fast, so if I hit the ball well, it speeds
away.

"I didn't want to get off to a slow start against Daniela because
she's got back to form. I definitely have been practising harder,
and though I'm not number one it's going to come soon. But it's not
my priority - that's to win Grand Slam titles. A lot of people
assume I'm number one anyway."

-------
Doubles (wild card with Francesca Schiavone)
-------

1r + Leanne Baker/Francesca Lubiani [Q], 6-2 6-4
qf + ELENA LIKHOVTSEVA/CONCHITA MARTÍNEZ [4], 6-3 6-3
sf - VIRGINIA RUANO PASCUAL/PAOLA SUÁREZ [1], 5-7 6-4 7-5

Daniela's doubles form is also improving quite dramatically after
2004.

------
Photos
------

On-court photos of Daniela and recent opponents:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=154146
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=hantuchova
http://editorial.gettyimages.com/MS_GINS/source/home/home.aspx?pg=1
(search for "hantuchova")

Nice off-court photos of Daniela (and of Gisela Dulko):
http://www.wtatour.com/photogallery/

And now we can look forward to an on-form Daniela returning to the
scene of her greatest triumph, Indian Wells! :-)

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

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