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

This is a Daniela-filtered subset of my Day 7 round-up:

1. Photos
5. Third-round report
9. Fourth-round draw: Top half
10. Quarter-final draw: Bottom half
12. Women's Doubles
13. Mixed Doubles
15. Order of Play for Monday

---------
1. Photos (Daniela-filtered)
---------

Daniela Hantuchová and Ashley Harkleroad:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=hantuchova
http://www.tennis.info/AusOpen7.html (Third round - day 3)

Daniela is usually more photogenic than Ashley, but Ashley today was
as cute as a button. ;-)

Daniela only:
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=278875&page=6 (pp. 6-8)
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=278892&page=3 (off-court)
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/players/wtah394.html

Daniela Hantuchová and Anna Chakvetadze added:
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/photogallery/?Event=melbourne_r3

Search Getty Images for "hantuchova"

--------------
5. Third round (Sunday 21st January)
--------------

Nice winner, nice loser:
+ DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [15,EF] d. Ashley Harkleroad, 6-7 (6/8) 7-5 6-3

Ashley was 7-6 5-2 up, and 3-1 in the third!!

Daniela hit 40 winners, and Ashley hit 31 herself - so she is indeed
more than a grinder now! :-)

The match lasted 3h07m, which is bad news when Daniela has to face
Kim Clijsters without a day off. :-(

Rohan Sullivan, Associated Press Writer:
>>>
HARD ROAD: Ashley Harkleroad was a set ahead and 4-0 in the second
when Daniela Hantuchová threw caution to the wind.

"She just started slapping it," said Harkleroad. "She was just
reeling off shots one after the other, like she didn't really care,
and they were all going in!"

Harkleroad, unseeded here, said she lost her rhythm when Hantuchová
began landing winners from all over the court - and blew a chance for
her first fourth-round appearance in a Grand Slam.

"I got a little bit tight, and that's it. I should have won that
match, period."

Hantuchová, who beat defending champion Serena Williams in the third
round of the Australian Open last year, said she recovered by
focusing on each point.

"I was just waiting for my game to come, and it did."
<<<

>>>
Daniela's stunning comeback
by Luke Buttigieg
Sunday, 21 January, 2007

Slovakian No.15 seed Daniela Hantuchová has staged a brilliant
fightback to book her place in the fourth round at Australian Open
2007, rallying from a set and two breaks down to beat unseeded
American Ashley Harkleroad.

Hantuchová looked set to join Yuan,Meng of China and German No.17
seed Anna-Lena Grönefeld in bowing out to Harkleroad in straight
sets, but the 23-year-old recovered superbly to ease to a 6-7(6) 7-5
6-3 win in 167 minutes.

Bidding to return to the world's top 50 after finishing the 2006
season at No.86, Harkleroad looked well on the way to a fourth-round
meeting with Belgian No.4 seed Kim Clijsters when she was 4-0 up in
the second set.

But Hantuchová, whose best previous finish at the year's opening
Grand Slam was a quarter-final appearance in 2003, lifted a gear,
taking the second set with a break in the 12th game, and it was
suddenly Harkleroad on the back foot.

And after reaching the fourth round at the Australian Open, French
Open and Wimbledon - as well as the round of 64 at the US Open - in
2006, Hantuchová went on to eventually prevail.

Hantuchová will need to produce a consistent display to get past
Clijsters though, having never beaten the 2004 Australian Open
finalist in their eight career meetings. In fact, Hantuchová has only
taken a set off Clijsters once, in the 2002 Filderstadt final.
<<<

More Daniela quotes
-------------------

"I just tried to take it one point at a time, tried to figure out how
to get back into the match, tried to stay positive. I'm glad to beat
her this time. I'm really pleased about the way I just kept fighting
for every point."


Fourth-round preview
--------------------

I must admit that I'm not looking forward to Daniela playing Kim
Clijsters at all. Daniela trails their head-to-head 0-8, and
Clijsters has been routining all her opponents here.

Daniela goes into this match the day after a three-hour marathon -
just as she did at the French Open - while Clijsters had Sunday off.
Daniela plays much better after a day off - which may be a reason she
has fewer poor matches in Grand Slams than on the WTA Tour - and
unfortunately the compressed schedule has denied her this advantage
here.

Frankly put, their fourth-round match at the French Open 2006 was
embarrassing for me to watch, knowing that it was being broadcast to
a wider audience than usual for Daniela - an audience that wouldn't
have understood that Daniela was tired, because no one told them so
(at least the BBC-commentators didn't say so - all they could say was
that Daniela would never reach the top five again, because she just
couldn't perform in big matches against such players).

Daniela approaches this match with a much more positive attitude than
I do - she's not like, "Kim's a great champion and I'm just excited
to play her" this time! ;-)

"Definitely I'm looking forward to that match. I mean, I got through
some difficult matches already so I've got nothing to lose. That one
is going to be a nice one for me to play. Definitely I'm just going
to enjoy it.

"Yeah, just again try to figure out things on the court, how to get
the points against her. She moves great. She doesn't have any
weaknesses in her game. It's going to be a tough match definitely,
but I'm really looking forward to it.

"I mean, she definitely gets probably the most balls back out of all
the players. Yeah, you just have to try to see some gaps that she
perhaps can't get into, maybe go for a little more difficult shots
than I would usually do. But at the same time trying to be patient,
not to go for too many winners.

"Yeah, against her I know I have to play my best to beat her, that's
for sure. Every match I go into, I believe I can win, otherwise
what's the point of going on the court? I feel like if I'm playing my
best, I can play against anyone."

Whatever happens against Clijsters, Daniela can be proud of reaching
the fourth round here, after her very participation had looked in
doubt due to a viral infection!

------------------------------
9. Fourth-round draw: Top half (to be played on Monday)
------------------------------

* MARIA SHARAPOVA [1,EF] v VERA ZVONARËVA [22,EF] (mouthwatering
match!)
* ANNA CHAKVETADZE [12,EF] v PATTY SCHNYDER [8] (DAVAI ANNA!)
* DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [15,EF] v KIM CLIJSTERS [4] (PODME DANIELA!)
* MARTINA HINGIS [6] v LI,NA [19] (hopp Martina!)

-----------------------------------
10. Quarter-final draw: Bottom half (to be played on Tuesday)
-----------------------------------

* SHAHAR PEER [16] v Serena Williams (kadima Shahar!)
* NICOLE VAIDIŠOVÁ [10,EF] v Lucie Šafárová (both nice; my loyalty is
to Nicole)

-------------------
12. Women's Doubles (Daniela-filtered)
-------------------
12.2 Third round (to be played on Monday)
----------------

* (DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [EF]/AI SUGIYAMA)[6]
v (SANIA MIRZA [DF]/ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES)[10]

-----------------
13. Mixed Doubles (Daniela-filtered)
-----------------
13.1 First round (to be played on Monday)
----------------

* Daniela Hantuchová [EF]/Mahesh Bhupathi
v Jelena Jankovic/Nenad Zimonjic

----------------------------
15. Order of Play for Monday
----------------------------

Rod Laver Arena (start 11:00 AEST = 00:00 GMT)
WS 4r: MARTINA HINGIS [6] v LI,NA [19]
WS 4r: DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [15,EF] v KIM CLIJSTERS [4]
MS 4r: JAMES BLAKE [5] v FERNANDO GONZALEZ [10]
|
Evening-session (start 19:30 AEST = 08:30 GMT)
WS 4r: MARIA SHARAPOVA [1,EF] v VERA ZVONARËVA [22,EF]
MS 4r: ANDY MURRAY [15] v RAFAEL NADAL [2]

Full order of play:
http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/

--
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/