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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS (Wimbledon, England; grass; Major)
================= http://www.wimbledon.org/
Contents
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1. First-round TV-report: Hantuchová v Robson
2. Second-round draw
3. Second-round preview: Hantuchová v Zheng
4. Order of play for Wednesday

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1. First-round TV-report: Hantuchová v Robson (Monday 22nd June 2009)
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+ Daniela Hantuchová [EF] d. Laura Robson [WC], 3-6 6-4 6-2

A wonderful match in terms of the quality of play, the nailbiting contest
(Daniela recovered from a set and a break down: 3-6 2-3*), and of course
Daniela's beauty (well, okay: Robson's kind of cute, too).

15-year-old Robson played unbelievably, with big, left-handed serves,
groundstrokes of flairsome power, and good hands too (e.g. to cut off a dipping
pass with a half-volley dropshot-winner at *0-1 (0/15) in the third). She is a
tremendous talent with a very bright future.
All she needs is more experience, to be injury-free, and to improve her footwork
(sometimes she takes one big step rather than several small steps, and this can
cause unforced errors).

Robson made me feel very embarrassed as a Daniela-fan in the first set, as
Daniela looked weaker and more erratic.

The momentum began to swing when Daniela was 2-4* down in the first set, as
Daniela began to hit the ball much better. Although Robson held for 5-2, and
ultimately won the first set, she was getting nervous - so was Daniela, but the
difference was that Daniela was experienced enough to capitalise on her
opponent's nerves, and Robson wasn't.

Double faults let Robson down big time in this match: she served a total of 14,
including one at *3-2 (Ad Daniela) to give Daniela the break back; she also
finished the match with a double fault.

By the third set, Robson's body-language - so positive in the first set - was
negative, and she allowed some distractions to get to her (I'll explain what
they were in my full TV-report). She was making more errors, and had lost her
way tactically.

I look forward to watching more of Robson when she defends her Girls' Singles
title next week - and to watching more of Daniela in the Women's Singles, of
course!

I'll post my full TV-report - with a blow-by-blow description of every point -
at a future date (ETA 8th August 2009).

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2. Second-round draw
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The players on the left are the ones I want to win.


Top half
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* Rossana de los Ríos v DINARA SAFINA [1] (ˇvamos Rossana!)
* Elena Baltacha [WC] v Kirsten Flipkens (my loyalty is to Elena)
* Kristína Kucová [LL,S] v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [17] (podme Kristína!)
* FLAVIA PENNETTA [15,DF] v Vania King (forza Flavia!)

* Maria Kirilenko [DF] v CAROLINE WOZNIACKI [9] (my loyalty is to Maria)
* ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES [20] v Tathiana Garbin (ˇvamos Anabel!)
* Sabine Lisicki [DF] v Patricia Mayr (komm jetzt Sabine!)
* Pauline Parmentier v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [5]

* Kateryna Bondarenko v VENUS WILLIAMS [3] (davai Kateryna!)
* Ekaterina Makarova v Carla Suárez Navarro (davai Ekaterina!)
* SAMANTHA STOSUR [18] v Tatjana Malek [Q] (my Passion says Tatjana, but my
Reason says Samantha)
* ANA IVANOVIC [13,DF] v Sara Errani (ajde Ana!)

* Peng,Shuai [S] v AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA [11] (jia you Shuai!)
* Olga Govortsova v LI,NA [19] (davai Olga!)
* Yaroslava Shvedova v Melanie Oudin [Q] (davai Yaroslava!)
* Iveta Benešová v JELENA JANKOVIC [6] (pojdme Iveta!)


Bottom half (Vera Zvonarëva, Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchová)
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* VERA ZVONARËVA [7,EF] v Mathilde Johansson (my loyalty is to VERA)
* Jill Craybas v VIRGINIE RAZZANO [26]
* Michelle Larcher de Brito [WC] v Francesca Schiavone (vamos Michelle!)
* MARION BARTOLI [12,DF,S] v Timea Bacsinszky (my loyalty is to Marion)

* DOMINIKA CIBULKOVÁ [14] v Urszula Radwanska (my loyalty is to Domi)
* Elena Vesnina v Vera Dushevina (davai Elena!)
* ALISA KLEYBANOVA [27] v Regina Kulikova [Q]
* Aravane Rezaď v ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] (my loyalty is to Aravane)

* VICTORIA AZARENKA [8,DF] v Ioana Raluca Olaru (my Passion says Raluca, but my
Reason says Victoria)
* Sania Mirza [DF] v SORANA CÎRSTEA [28] (my loyalty is to Sania)
* MARIA SHARAPOVA [24,EF] v Gisela Dulko [DF] (my loyalty is to MARIA)
* Shahar Pe'er v NADIA PETROVA [10] (kadima Shahar!)

* Daniela Hantuchová [EF] v ZHENG,JIE [16] (my loyalty is to DANIELA)
* Arantxa Parra Santonja [Q,S] v Ai Sugiyama (ˇvamos Arantxa!)
* Roberta Vinci v ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA [31] (forza Roberta!)
* SERENA WILLIAMS [2] v Jarmila Groth

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3. Second-round preview: Hantuchová v Zheng
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Daniela beat Zheng,Jie 6-4 6-2 in their only meeting: in the third round of
Indian Wells 2008.

But Indian Wells is Daniela's best tournament, whereas Wimbledon is probably
Zheng's best: she reached the semi-finals here last year. But now, by her own
admission, she feels the pressure to defend that result.

Zheng is dangerous on grass as she hits the ball early and flat, so it bounces
low on grass, which is especially effective against tall girls. She has precise,
intelligent placement on her groundstrokes: she knows how to jerk her opponents
around.

Zheng is 20:14 for 2009 so far (including her first-round win here).

She reached the fourth round of the Australian Open by beating #59 Kateryna
Bondarenko 6-2 6-2, but retired at 1-4 against #8 Svetlana Kuznetsova with a
left-wrist sprain.

Zheng reached the third round of Dubai, beating #42 Samantha Stosur 3-6 7-5 7-5,
but losing 6-4 6-2 to #1 Serena Williams.

She reached the semi-finals of Monterrey by beating #36 Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-2,
but lost 7-5 6-3 to #13 Marion Bartoli.

Zheng reached the fourth round of Miami with a 6-4 6-0 win over #14 Alizé
Cornet, and lost 7-5 5-7 6-3 to #1 Serena Williams.

Zheng's clay-court results were relatively modest, with a third round at Rome,
and second rounds at Madrid, Warsaw and the French Open - losing 6-4 6-3 to #132
Michelle Larcher de Brito.

At Birmingham, Zheng was the top seed, but after thrashing #122 Melanie South
6-3 6-1, she lost 7-6 (12/10) 6-4 to the eventual champion: #58 Magdaléna
Rybáriková.

At Eastbourne, Zheng beat #34 Carla Suárez Navarro 6-2 6-2, but lost 7-6 6-3 to
Aleksandra Wozniak.

She has reached the second round here by beating Kristina Barrois
7-6 (7/2) 7-6 (7/4).

Conclusion: Zheng is a tough opponent, especially on grass, but she's not on
particularly strong form at the moment, so it should be quite a winnable match
for Daniela.

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4. Order of play for Wednesday
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Court 3 (start 12:00 BST = 11:00 GMT)
WS 2r: Daniela Hantuchová [EF] v ZHENG,JIE [16]
MS 2r: FERNANDO VERDASCO [7] v Kristof Vliegen
MS 2r: Simone Bolelli v JO-WILFRIED TSONGA [9]
WD 1r: Naomi Cavaday/Katie O'Brien v Mariya Koryttseva/Tatiana Poutchek

Full order of play:
http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/scores/schedule/

--
Dr. Andrew Broad
http://tinyurl.com/andrewbroad-hantu