======================
TORAY PAN PACIFIC OPEN (Tokyo, Japan; indoor carpet; WTA Tier I)
====================== http://www.toray-ppo.co.jp/
Photos
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On court:
http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news/?c=news_photos&p=hantuchova
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=278875&page=9

Off court:
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/2/photogallery/?Event=tokyo1
http://www.toray-ppo.co.jp/web/pc/photo_gallery/
http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=278892&page=3 (pp.3-5)

Search Getty Images for "hantuchova"

Roberta Vinci looked good too.

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First round (Tuesday 30th January)
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- DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [8,EF] lt. Roberta Vinci [Q], 4-6 4-6

A disappointing defeat, to be sure, but certainly an explicable one.

Roberta Vinci is an old-school player, who loves to serve & volley
and chip & charge. Her best surface is grass (she reached the semi-
finals at Eastbourne 2005, where she served for the match against
Vera Douchevina at 6-2 5-4 but choked).

The fast carpet at Tokyo is the closest thing to grass, so that would
have suited Roberta down to the ground.

It would have also helped Roberta that she came through three rounds
of qualifying to give herself a winning-streak and get used to the
conditions which are so different to Melbourne (Tokyo is in a
different timezone, and is much colder than Australia).

On the other hand, for Daniela this is yet another disappointing
result on the WTA Tour. She tends to rise to the occasion in the
first week of a Grand Slam, but loses regularly in the first and
second rounds of WTA tournaments: she's already 1-3 on the WTA Tour
this year (the one win being a three-set victory over world #153
Dominika Cibulková at Auckland).

www.wtatour.com:
>>>
Vinci's serve-and-volley style, unique among her peers on the WTA
Tour, proved extremely effective against the No.8-seeded Hantuchová;
she won two thirds of the points on her serve. The Slovak was also
solid on her delivery, but gave up breaks late in each set en route
to defeat.

Vinci's win over the 18th-ranked Hantuchová serves as her fifth Top
20 victory; two of the prior four came over the Top 10, namely
Anastasia Myskina and Patty Schnyder, both during the 2005 season.
<<<

Associated Press (AP):
>>>
The qualifier took advantage of five double-faults by Hantuchová on
her way to the win in the first round of the $1.3 million tournament.

Vinci, who is 119th in the WTA rankings, broke Hantuchová to go up
5-4 in the second set, and then held serve to win the match in
1 hour, 19 minutes at Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium.
<<<

First set
---------
HANTU * *__@__*_ 4
VINCI _* *@ @* * 6

The seventh game proved vital, as Daniela squandered two game-points
and saved two break-points before Roberta broke for *4-3 and won the
first set on the strength of that break.


Second set
----------
HANTU * * * *___ 4
VINCI _* * * *@* 6

The first eight games were serve-dominated. Then Daniela, serving at
4-4, choked horribly on a 40/0 lead, with two double faults in a row
en route to 40/40! Daniela saved one break-point, then lost every
point left in the match.


Daniela: "I had one bad game in each set when I was broken. Vinci
already had three matches in the qualifying-rounds, and she played
really well."


Roberta consolidated the upset with a 6-3 6-0 thrashing of Wimbledon
quarter-finalist Séverine Brémond, then lost 6-1 6-2 to third seed
Elena Dementieva. Unfortunately, Roberta seems totally intimidated
whenever she has to play someone ranked higher than #10.

-------
Doubles
-------

(DANIELA HANTUCHOVÁ [EF]/AI SUGIYAMA)[3]:
1r - Jelena Jankovic/Bethanie Mattek, 6-7 (5/7) 3-6

According to an unofficial source
<http://www.wtaworld.com/showthread.php?t=283950>, Daniela and Ai
have ended their two-year doubles-partnership after this defeat -
apparently because Daniela is a singles-player who does not move well
in doubles.

Movement has always been Daniela's weakness as a tennis-player in
general. I would say she struggles especially with moving forwards
and closing in on the net, as she likes to hesitate until she sees
how much damage her approach does, rather than really commit to it.

So the key for Daniela is how well she strikes the ball, but she is
frustratingly inconsistent: in one point, she'll hit a brilliant
groundstroke-winner of flairsome power, close to the line; but in the
next point, she'll make a sloppy error.

Personally, I prefer players who are brilliant but inconsistent to
players who are consistent but unspectacular.

--
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/