===============
AUSTRALIAN OPEN
(Melbourne, Australia; outdoor hard (Rebound Ace); Grand Slam)
=============== http://www.australianopen.com/

Photos:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/players/wtah394.html
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=hantuchova
Search Getty Images for "hantuchova"

Videos:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=145909&page=8

-----------
Third round (Friday)
-----------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [17] d. SERENA WILLIAMS [13], 6-1 7-6 (7/5)

A sweet victory for Daniela against the defending champion - who was
on an Australian Open winning-streak of 16 matches - and her first-
ever victory against a Williams sister.

Daniela derives a lot of confidence from this win - she feels she
has crossed a bridge in her career.

But the fact of the matter is that Serena's performance was
dreadful - not even worthy of a 13th seed. Serena has lost none of
her power, but her loss of physical conditioning manifested itself
in a hail of unforced errors, as she struggled to get herself in
position for her shots, and couldn't seem to trust any of her shots.
Serena didn't even give Daniela a chance to get nervous in the first
set.

Serena was desperately short of match-play, having finished 2005
with a loss to Sun,Tiantian at Beijing in September. Her knee-injury
has prevented her from running and cycling to stay in shape.

At an end Serena's rule is - and not short enough it was. Serena has
won no title since the Australian Open 2005, and will drop from #15
to #39 (ignoring the movements of other players) in the next update
of the WTA Singles Rankings - low enough to be unseeded at the
French Open if she doesn't get back in shape. And with outside
interests threatening to take over her life, she may not have the
motivation to do so.


But let's give Daniela her credit: she was timing the ball well on
her sharp, penetrating groundstrokes, and serving well. She
exploited Serena's diminished mobility with some nice spreading
rallies and the occasional dropshot, and some of Serena's errors can
be attributed to Daniela keeping a good length on her groundstrokes.

However, Daniela was rather tentative IMO, often just letting Serena
make the errors rather than going for too much - and of course the
erratic Serena obliged, giving Daniela plenty of free gifts.
Daniela's trademark backhand winners down the line were conspicuous
by their absence.

It certainly wasn't up there with Daniela's victory over Martina
Hingis in the Indian Wells 2002 final - which was one of the
greatest performances I've ever seen in my time as a tennis-fan.

Daniela looked lithe, sleek, strong and healthy, and very fetching
in a pair of what Sam Smith described as "microshorts" - although
they weren't actually short and light-coloured enough to have the
Golovin Effect, they did bring out the length of Daniela's upper
legs! ;-)


I watched the whole match on BBCi, but I don't have time to write up
as detailed a report as it deserves before the next match (I intend
to write up a detailed report for my website in the future). So for
now I'll just do the essence:

Commentator Sam Smith said during the warm-up that Daniela
often "plays matches with the handbrake on, not thinking as clearly
as she should."

She also said Daniela had now come to terms with no longer being a
top-ten player, and was just concentrating on good performances.


First Set
---------
HANTUCHO _*@*@*@ 6
WILLIAMS *______ 1

The match started at approximately 19:40 AEST on Rod Laver Arena.

Play was suspended for rain at 1-3 (15/30), and there was a half-
hour delay (20:02 to ~20:35) while they closed the roof and dried
the court with towels.

Quotes from Sam Smith:
* "There's lots of hungry Hantuchovás coming up the rankings to take
them out." [the correct Slovak plural is Hantuchové]
* {4-1} "If she doesn't take this first set with Serena playing like
this, she ought to be shot."

Daniela needed three set-points to get the first set under her belt,
finally sealing it with an off-forehand return-winner.

Daniela won the first set 6-1 at 20:50 (31m).


Second Set
----------
HANTUCHO * *___*@* *_ 7(7)
WILLIAMS _* *@*___* * 6(5)

Daniela showed great resilience to fight back from 2-4 to 4-4 (just
as Maria Sharapova had done against Serena in the Wimbledon 2004
final, which Maria won 6-1 6-4).

There's no more nervous time to be a Daniela-fan than when she's
match-point up. I remember watching her squander three match-points
in her loss to Shinobu Asagoe at Wimbledon 2003, and her bursting
into tears after missing them.

Daniela had three match-points on Serena's serve at 5-6 (0/40), but
Williams saved them with a forehand drive-volley winner, an error-
forcing backhand that caught the back edge of the baseline (how
painful *that* would have been if Daniela had gone on to lose), and
a 179 km/h ace.

Daniela led 3/0 in the tiebreak, but I thought she'd missed her
chance when she double-faulted and it became 3/4 (although I did
fancy Daniela's chances in a third set against an unfit Serena,
especially with Daniela having won all five third sets she's played
this year).

But Daniela forged ahead again, with Match-Points #4 and #5 at 6/4.
Williams saved #4 on her serve, but #5 was the first on Daniela's
serve, and she converted it with a service-winner down the middle.

Daniela won 6-1 7-6 (7/5) at 21:50 (1h31m net, 2h10m gross). The
good news for Serena was that McDonald's was still open! ;-)

Daniela jumped for joy, and the smile on her face was wonderful to
behold. In her on-court interview, she said she was going to "get a
massage", and there was no shortage of volunteers in the crowd! :lol:


Statistics
----------

Daniela had a W:UE ratio of 15:28, but Williams was much worse with
17:37.

Daniela got only 53% of first serves in (first set 68%, second set
46%), winning 78% of the points when she did so, and 54% on second
serve (Williams 65%, 67% and 31% - well done Daniela for attacking
Serena's second serve, which does tend to sit up nicely with
topspin).

Williams certainly had the faster first serve, with an average of
172 km/h (fastest 194 km/h), while Daniela's average first serve was
167 km/h (fastest 176 km/h). But Daniela's second serve was much
better than Serena's (143 km/h to 136 km/h, with a much higher
success-rate as noted above).

Daniela served 4 aces and 9 double faults, which is a bit high.
Williams served 5 aces and 4 doubles.

Daniela had her usual problems converting break-points as she broke
4 times from 16 BPs (second set only once from 6 BPs). But Williams
only had - and converted - one break-point against Daniela. When
you're generating that many more opportunities than your opponent,
you can afford to be profligate.

Williams went to the net 15 times but won only 8 of those points,
while Daniela was more selective in her approaches, winning 5 of 6
points at the net.

Daniela beat Williams by 78 points to 66 (first set 34-25, second
set 44-41).


Daniela quotes
--------------

"It means a lot... finally I can say I am able to play and beat
anyone, and I am just so happy - it just gives me so much
confidence. I had so many matches like this where I was really close
of beating the top players, and finally I did it today. I'm just
really extremely happy about that.

"I don't think she was hitting the ball as well as she could. I
think we all know how well she can really play. But to her credit, I
thought she kept fighting until the end. On those match-points, I
don't think I did anything wrong.

"At the end of the second set, it could have gone either way, so I
really did feel the pressure of her really competing. I mean, that's
something that you can never take away from her, and she did it
again tonight.

"I kept fighting for every single point, and never gave up in any
kind of situation. It was very difficult getting towards the end
there, but I'm just really glad of the way that I handled it.

"I always believed in myself. I guess the way to get there is to
keep working hard and fight all the way."

[Re. the difference between this and Daniela's previous matches
against the Williams sisters]
"Heart. Just really being mentally strong and resistant, keep
fighting for every single point, and not giving up in any kind of
situation. This time not really - I was not fighting myself at all
as I used to. I was just trying to be focused on every point.

"So many times in my matches, especially when I was coming up and I
was really, really young and not having the experience, I was
sometimes beating myself and not really playing the opponent. I was
beating myself because I had so many high expectations of myself.
Those times were difficult, but I guess everyone has to go through
them."

"I will have a massage and try to save all my energy for my next
match."


"Just" Williams quotes
----------------------

"I was prepared. I was really set and very ready to play. I just
didn't play my best at all today. I just made a lot of errors. I
just couldn't find my shots at all. I was just hitting balls every
which direction. Just going everywhere. I didn't feel any of them.
Everything I was trying just wasn't working. It was just one of
those days.

"I was just thinking about going to the tiebreak and, you know, just
trying to hold on. I wasn't thinking about the past or anything like
that. I think I was really calm."


-----------------
Fourth-round draw
-----------------

* MARIA SHARAPOVA [4] v DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [17]

A mouthwatering match between my second and third favourite players
of all time. A match of tall, elegant beauty, of flairsome power,
and of the two loveliest serves in tennis.

"I have the power to save the one you love! You must choose!"

Surely, there is no grief that can befall a man more sorely than to
have to choose between Maria Sharapova and Daniela Hantuchová. If
this were a Grand Slam final, I'd be rooting for Daniela to join
Maria as a Grand Slam champion (in singles). If it were a regular
WTA tournament, then the joy and confidence to Daniela would far
outweigh the little gap on Maria's scroll of honour. But which one
is going to dignify my eternal fanship with the Australian Open
title?

As a Daniela-fan, I just hope to see her lose her inhibitions and
entertain us with full justice to her immense talent, even if only
to keep the match close.

Daniela will have to be bolder than she was against an erratic
Serena Williams if she is to make any real impact against a healthy
Maria. She'll need to hit more winners, get more first serves in,
and have a better break-point conversion-rate than she did against
Williams.

As Sam Smith said, Daniela takes tennis very seriously and
stressfully. She doesn't have the pressure that she's expected to
beat Maria, so she needs to have a bit more fun out there and
just "let it rip".

Daniela: "I'm really looking forward to the match, I've got nothing
to lose. If I keep going like I did tonight, it's going to be a
great match again. I can't wait to be out there again."

But will Maria be healthy for this match? She was struggling with a
blister in her second-round match - spraying forehands everywhere -
and also has a long-term shoulder-injury that could flare up at any
time. I pray that these problems will stay away until she's holding
up that beautiful tall trophy next Saturday.


----------------------------------
Women's Doubles: Second-round draw
----------------------------------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [6] d. Li,Na/Peng,Shuai, 6-4 6-3

---------------------------------
Women's Doubles: Third-round draw
---------------------------------

* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [6] v
GISELA DULKO/MARIA KIRILENKO [10]

My eyes lit up when I saw this draw. Daniela and Dulkirilenko on the
same court! :hearts:


------------------------
Order of play for Sunday
------------------------

Rod Laver Arena (start 11:00 AEST = 00:00 GMT)
MD 3r: Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan v JORDAN KERR/TRAVIS PARROTT [14]
(NB 12:30) WS 4r: LINDSAY DAVENPORT v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [14]
MS 4r: Marcos Baghdatis v ANDY RODDICK [2]
|
Evening-session (not before 19:30 AEST = 08:30 GMT)
WS 4r: MARIA SHARAPOVA [4] v DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [17]
MS 4r: IVAN LJUBICIC [7] v THOMAS JOHANSSON [10]

Maria v Daniela will be televised on BBCi at 8:30am GMT! :-))

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

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