===============================================
WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP WOMEN'S OPEN
(Cincinnati, Ohio, USA, hard, WTA Tier III)
===============================================
First round
-----------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [4] d. Lilia Osterloh, 6-1 6-2

Daniela: "I came to the States earlier this year [than in previous
years]. I've been practising hard and by the looks of how things
went today, it looks like it might be paying off."

This quote comes from Daniela's answers to some email-questions -
most insightful!
http://www.cincytennis.com/en/news/2005/05_danielaanswers.asp

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

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [4] d. Chanda Rubin, 6-2 7-5

Daniela was 3-5 down in the second.

"I always try to be smart on the court, but sometimes not. Sometimes
you can think too much and overthink things. Maybe sometimes it's
better to close your eyes and hit it as hard as you can."
[Daniela Hantuchová, Cincinnati 2005]

"You almost just need to hypnotise Hantuchová in a way, so that she
just goes into a fog on the court, and just allows herself to hit
the ball as well as she can."
[Virginia Wade, Wimbledon 2005]

--------------
Quarter-finals
--------------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [4] d. Yoon Jeong Cho, 6-7 (1/7) 6-4 6-1

Daniela suffered from her infamous missed opportunities in the first
set, squandering a break and six set-points, but it is surely a
testament to her strong will and superior physical fitness - and of
course raw talent - that she bounced back from that disappointment
to win so emphatically in extreme heat against a tiring opponent.

I did not see the match myself - I distilled the following
information from
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=180217&page=2


FIRST SET
Han * * * *@__*_ 6(1)
Cho _* * *__@* * 7(7)

Daniela wasted opportunities to break in Cho's first two service-
games as she mixed brilliant winners with unforced errors, but did
break for 5-3... only to be broken straight back! Cho saved three
set-points on her serve at 4-5 0/40 "with great forehands", and held
for 5-5. Daniela missed three more set-points on Cho's serve at 5-6,
and apparently Cho played very well and aggressively in winning the
tiebreak 7/1.


SECOND SET
Han _* * *@* * 6
Cho * * *___*_ 4

Daniela held for 2-2 after being taken from 40/0 to 40/40. She hung
in against an on-form Cho, broke for 4-3 on a double fault, and this
time made no mistake in serving out the set. Then they took the 10-
minute break allowed by the extreme-heat rule.


THIRD SET
Han @* *@*@ 6
Cho __*____ 1

Daniela had a bit of a nightmare serving at 2-1 with her break: 40/0
to 40/40, then had to save a break-point, which she did with a
backhand winner down the line and a scream of "COME ON!". But
Daniela is one of the fittest players on the WTA Tour (in more ways
than one!), and Cho was tiring. Daniela raced through the rest of
the third set, sealing victory with a forehand winner down the line.


Daniela: "We both needed to get into the shade. It was getting
ridiculous out there. I felt like I had so much energy [after the
break], I could have gone another set.

"In the first set, I took so many chances. I was trying to do too
much, and I made too many mistakes. In the second set, I was just
trying to make sure to hold my serve and look for a chance to break
her. I felt like she was getting tired in the third set. I felt very
good at the end."

-----------
Semi-finals
-----------

- DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [4] lt. Akiko Morigami, 6-4 6-4

Akiko is a Selesian player (two hands both sides), but she wrecked
my dreams of a Daniela v Vera Zvonarëva semi-final by beating the
second seed 6-3 6-2 in the second round. Apparently Akiko is now
hitting the ball much harder than when I saw her play at Wimbledon
2003 and 2004.

Source of all my information on this match:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=180418&page=6


FIRST SET
Hantucho * * *__@__ 4
Morigami _* * *@ @* 6

Daniela had to save a break-point at 1-1 30/40. Akiko dictating, but
making errors on important points. At 2-2, play was suspended when
the lights broke on Centre Court, and they had to move to Grandstand
Court. Daniela faced 3 break-points at 2-2 0/40, but held for 3-2.
Akiko holding much easier.

Morigami broke for 4-3, but Daniela broke back to love! Akiko broke
for 5-4 after 40/15 for Daniela and a controversial overrule in
Akiko's favour. Akiko served out to love for 6-4.


SECOND SET
Hantucho * * * *___ 4
Morigami _* * * *@* 6

The scoring-thread degenerated into a flame-war, so much so that
Daniela was said to be 5-4 ahead when in fact she was broken. :-(


Photos:
http://www.cincytennis.com/en/players/gallery/

========================
BANK OF THE WEST CLASSIC
(Stanford, California, USA, hard, WTA Tier II)
========================
First-round draw
----------------

Fanship-interest:
* Daniela Hantuchová v Alexandra Stevenson [WC]
* VERA ZVONARËVA [5] v qualifier

If Daniela and Bepa both win, THEY'LL PLAY EACH OTHER IN THE SECOND
ROUND!! But seeing as there's a conspiracy to keep them apart, I
expect Daniela will find herself promoted to 9th seed and moved in
the draw. ;-)

Stevenson is just returning from an injury-layoff (September 2004 to
July 2005), and has lost twice in first rounds on the ITF Women's
Circuit, so I think I can safely say that her chances of beating
Daniela are approximately zero (Daniela leads their head-to-heads
6-2).

Bepa has the tougher assignment against a qualifier - i.e. someone
on a winning-streak of three matches. I hope that the talented and
sexy Sania Mirza will qualify, but she's the last one I want to see
as Bepa's first opponent! (No doubt the anti-(Bepa v Daniela)
conspirators will rig the draw to make it so.)


And if they don't meet in singles, at least they'll meet in the
first round of doubles! :-)

* Daniela Hantuchová/Ai Sugiyama v
VERA ZVONARËVA/ELENA LIKHOVTSEVA [2]


Full draws:
http://www.wtatour.com/draws/

==========================
Andrew's Wimbledon reports
==========================

First-round report uploaded (second round ETA 26th July):
http://www.geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/hantu/wimbledon2005.html

--
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/