================
PILOT PEN TENNIS
(New Haven, Connecticut, USA; outdoor hard; WTA Tier II)
================ http://www.pilotpentennis.com/

Another WTA tournament following the by-now-all-too-familiar pattern
of post-Australian-Open 2006: Daniela makes life unnecessarily
difficult for herself, struggles through the first round in three
sets, only to lose in the second round.

---------------
Photos & Videos
---------------

Photos:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=8883173

Videos - Daniela Hantuchová, Magdaléna Rybáriková & Dominika
Cibulková in Fed Cup (a few points + interviews in Slovak):
http://membres.lycos.fr/boots123/Tennis2006/fedcup.html (DH)
http://membres.lycos.fr/boots123/Tennis2006/fedcup2.html (DH+MR)
http://membres.lycos.fr/boots123/Tennis2006/fedcup3.html (DH+DC)

-----------
First round (Tuesday 22nd August)
-----------

+ Daniela Hantuchová d. Anna-Lena Grönefeld, 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 6-4

It was one of Daniela's choky performances, as she missed four match-
points (including 0/40) on Grönefeld's serve at 6-5* in the second
set, before losing it on a tiebreak.

I think it all comes down to Daniela's feet. When she's nervous, her
feet stop moving. Poor footwork contributes to unforced errors.
Sometimes Daniela has to make a conscious effort to exaggerate her
feet.

NyCPsU's match-report:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showpost.php?p=8871624

------------
Second round (Wednesday 23rd August)
------------

- Daniela Hantuchová lt. ELENA DEMENTIEVA [3], 2-6 7-5 0-6

A few nights ago, I dreamed that I tuned into CEEFAX or Teletext and
saw the headline "DEMENTIEVA DEAD". The report said that she had
died of "lead-poisoning". The dream was so vivid that I thought she
really was dead until I saw that she was Daniela's next opponent! ;-)

But Dementieva was very much alive on Wednesday. She may have a poor
serve, but she's one of the fittest players on the tour. So is
Daniela, but I guess she must have run out of gas when playing her
sixth set in two days. (Why does she have to make her matches so
complicated?)

Daniela had another wobble in the second set. She served for it at
5-3 before finally winning it 7-5, no doubt expending a lot of
emotional energy in the process.

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/
http://geocities.com/andrewbroad/tennis/hantu/ (+4 external links)

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