=======
US OPEN (Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, Decoturf, Grand Slam)
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Third round
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- DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [20] lt. VENUS WILLIAMS [10], 6-3 6-3

Daniela has now lost in the third round of six Grand Slams in a row.

I'm disappointed that Daniela couldn't manage a better scoreline
after her fine form in the American summer hardcourt-season, but
apparently Williams "lit up Arthur Ashe Stadium with her trademark
blend of power and athleticism" [www.wtatour.com]

Daniela had 10 break-points against Williams, but only converted one
of them, and didn't help her own cause by getting only 50% of first
serves in.


The match started at approximately 19:30 EDT, but I couldn't follow
live scores at www.usopen.org because my (terribly, terribly tempted
to insert a swearword here, but of course that would never do)
Internet-connection was down! :-|| So I caught up with the match at
the scoring-thread (thanks to ILuvVenus07 and TheBoiledEgg for
details of play):
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=189844&page=35

First Set
---------
HANTUCHO __* *@___ 3
WILLIAMS @* *__@*@ 6

Daniela serving 0-0: 15/0, Williams forehand winner, 15/15, 30/15,
30/30, 30/40 (break-point), broken. Daniela made errors in that
game, seemingly intimidated by Williams's court-coverage.

Williams serving 1-0: 15/0, 15/15, 15/30, Daniela forehand winner
down the line, 15/40 (2 BPs) -> 40/40, Daniela forehand winner,
ad D (BP #3), Deuce #2, ad D (BP #4), Williams forehand winner,
Deuce #3, ad W, Deuce #4, ad D (BP #5), Williams forehand winner,
Deuce #5, "Daniela winner on the line", ad D (BP #6), Deuce #6,
Williams volley-winner, ad W, held.

Oh dear! All those wasted opportunities, sadly so characteristic of
Daniela. But it seems that Williams dominated most of the points
with either service-winners or double faults.

Daniela serving 0-2: 0/15, 15/15, 15/30, Daniela forehand winner,
30/30, 40/30, held.
Williams serving 2-1: 15/0, ace, 30/0, 30/15, 40/15, Daniela
dropshot-winner, 40/30, 40/40, ad W, held.

Daniela serving 1-3: "HUGE Venus forehand return winner off first
serve", 0/15, 30/15, Williams forehand winner down the line, 30/30,
double fault, 30/40 (BP), 40/40, ad D, Deuce #2, ad D, held.

Williams serving 3-2: two double faults, 0/40 (3 BPs) -> 40/40
(three big first serves and a forehand winner), Daniela off-forehand
winner, ad D (BP #4), Williams forehand error - broken!

Daniela serving 3-3: second-serve ace, 15/0, 15/40 (2 BPs), broken.
Williams serving 4-3: Williams backhand winner, forehand winner,
came to net to force Daniela into error, 40/0, 40/15, held.

Daniela serving to stay in the first set at 3-5: 15/0, double fault,
15/15, 15/30, 30/30, 30/40 (SP), Daniela lost the first set 6-3 at
20:18. Good rallies with forced errors in that game.


Second Set
----------
HANTUCHO ___* * *_ 3
WILLIAMS *@* * * * 6

Williams serving 0-0: forehand winner, 15/0, 15/15, ace, 30/15,
30/30, Williams volley-winner, 40/30, held.

Daniela serving 0-1: double fault, 0/15, 15/15, 15/30, 30/30,
Williams backhand return-winner down the line, 30/40 (BP), Williams
forehand winner - broken.

Williams serving 2-0: double fault, 0/15, 15/15, one-two punch with
forehand winner, 30/15, one-two punch with backhand winner, 40/15,
ace - held.

Daniela serving 0-3: double fault, 0/15, 15/15, Daniela backhand
winner, 30/15, 40/15, held.
Williams serving 3-1: 40/0, 40/15, Williams backhand winner - held.
Daniela serving 1-4: 15/0, Daniela volley-winner, 30/0, 40/0,
Daniela forehand winner - held.

Williams serving 4-2: 15/0, Williams 119mph serve + backhand winner,
30/0, 30/15, 40/15, Daniela lob-winner (after 122mph serve!), 40/30,
held.

Daniela serving to stay in the match at 2-5: "nice lob from Daniela
again", 15/0, Daniela backhand winner, 30/0, service-winner, 40/0,
Williams volley-winner, 40/15 -> 40/40, ace, ad D, held.

Williams serving for the match at 5-3: Daniela forehand return-
error, 15/0, Daniela forehand return long, 30/0, Williams forehand
winner, 40/0 (3 MPs), Daniela lob-volley winner just in, 40/15,
Williams won 6-3 6-3 at 20:53.


Statistics
----------

Daniela's serve was too poor to compete with Williams: she got only
50% of first serves in, winning 61% of the points when she did so,
and a measly 46% on second serve (Williams 65%, 74% and 34% - her
second-serve percentage improved from 19% in the first set to 54% in
the second). Daniela served 2 aces and 5 double faults, Williams 3
aces and 6 double faults.

Williams served much faster than Daniela: fastest 122 - 109mph,
average first serve 108 - 102mph. But Daniela's second serve was
faster than Williams's: 92mph - 87mph.

Daniela had a W:UE ratio of 15:21, Williams 27:23. It's very
difficult to hit winners past Williams because she covers the court
so well and has such long limbs, so to hit 15 winners past her in 18
games (Daniela hit 7 winners in the first set, 8 in the second) is a
pretty respectable statistic.

Williams was much more aggressive from the net, winning 10 of 17
points there (Daniela 4 of 7).

But the key statistic is that Daniela had TEN break-points (all in
the first set) and only broke ONCE, whereas Williams broke 4 times
from 5 break-points.

So Daniela had twice as many opportunities as Williams, but the
winner of a tennis-match is always going to be the player who plays
the key points better on the day, and apparently Williams played the
break-points very well indeed.


Quotes
------

Daniela: "If I was able to capitalize at 3-3, I think I would have
had a chance, maybe. But I have to give her all the credit. She
played unbelievable.

"I've got to give her all the credit for the way she served. When
she got up, she really stepped up her game, came up with some big
shots. I can't do anything about the draw. I can't change it now.
But definitely was a tough one for me."


Venus: "I think today was definitely my best match. I got used to
the wind. Maybe the next match the wind will be gone, but I finally
got used to it. It was nice also I guess to play a player that I
have played before, too. I think that helped out."


Daniela's post-match press-conference:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X6AB42BBB

Daniela looks and sounds very disappointed. She talks about her good
form going into the US Open, only to get yet another tough draw in a
Grand Slam. She identifies the game at 3-3 in the first set as the
point where it all started to go wrong for her. She defends Nigel
Sears as being a good coach for her.

Kimberley_82's transcription:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=6125112


Wintermute's match-report:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=6117535

-----------------------------
Women's Doubles: Second round (Saturday)
-----------------------------

+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [5] d.
Amy Frazier/Alina Jidkova, 2-6 6-3 6-3

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

* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ/AI SUGIYAMA [5] v Yan,Zi/Zheng,Jie

--------------------------------
Mixed Doubles: Second-round draw
--------------------------------

* Daniela Hantuchová/Mahesh Bhupathi v
LISA RAYMOND/JONAS BJÖRKMAN [4]


Daniela's US Open 2005 profile (with three new photos):
http://www.usopen.org/en_US/bios/ws/wtah394.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/