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

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1. Second-round TV-report: Hantuchová v Zheng
(Wednesday 24th June 2009)
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+ Daniela Hantuchová [EF] d. ZHENG,JIE [16], 6-3 7-5

A pleasing win over last year's semi-finalist, and I got to watch it on BBC Red
Button until 6-3 1-1*, when the bustards who control it decided that some men's
match was more important. :fiery:

Daniela made a slow start to go *0-2 down, not moving or hitting the ball
particularly well. She's a tall girl, and it takes a while for everything to
start flowing in the right direction.

Zheng was moving well and taking the ball early, and she consolidated her break
to lead 3-1*.

But Daniela won the last five games of the first set. Her good serve set up
forehand winners; she also found some great depth on her groundstrokes, which
induced Zheng to make semi-forced errors.

Daniela squandered four break-back points at 2-3*, but saved Zheng's game-point
with a backhand return-winner down the line, and her deep, error-inducing
groundstrokes saw her earn and convert a fifth break-point to make it 3-3*.

Daniela held for 4-3* with the help of a serve + forehand winner, then Zheng
made four unforced errors to give her *5-3.

Serving for the first set, Daniela started with a very confident crosscourt
backhand winner, but had to recover from 15/30.
A body-jamming service-winner gave her set-point (40/30), and she converted it
with a serve + crosscourt forehand winner.

The BBC also showed Daniela's match-point: she sealed victory with a splendid
spreading rally: crosscourt backhand + down-the-line backhand + forehand
drop-volley winner.

I'll post my full TV-report - with a blow-by-blow description of every point -
at a future date (ETA 30th August 2009).

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2. Third-round draw
-------------------

The players on the left are the ones I want to win.

* Kirsten Flipkens v DINARA SAFINA [1] (komaan Kirsten!)
* FLAVIA PENNETTA [15,DF] v AMÉLIE MAURESMO [17] (forza Flavia!)
* CAROLINE WOZNIACKI [9] v ANABEL MEDINA GARRIGUES [20] (kom sĺ Caroline!)
* Sabine Lisicki [DF] v SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA [5] (komm jetzt Sabine!)

* VENUS WILLIAMS [3] v Carla Suárez Navarro
* ANA IVANOVIC [13,DF] v SAMANTHA STOSUR [18]
* LI,NA [19] v AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA [11]
* JELENA JANKOVIC [6] v Melanie Oudin [Q]

* VERA ZVONARËVA [7,EF] v VIRGINIE RAZZANO [26] (DAVAI VERA!!)
* MARION BARTOLI [12,DF,S] v Francesca Schiavone (allez Marion!)
* DOMINIKA CIBULKOVÁ [14] v Elena Vesnina (my loyalty is to Domi)
* ELENA DEMENTIEVA [4] v Regina Kulikova [Q] (davai Elena!)

* VICTORIA AZARENKA [8,DF] v SORANA CÎRSTEA [28] (my loyalty is to Queen
Victoria)
* Gisela Dulko [DF] v NADIA PETROVA [10] (ˇvamos Gisela!)
* Daniela Hantuchová [EF] v Ai Sugiyama (PODME DANIELA!!)
* Roberta Vinci v SERENA WILLIAMS [2] (forza Roberta!)

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3. Third-round preview: Hantuchová v Sugiyama
---------------------------------------------

33-year-old Ai Sugiyama has been Daniela's most regular doubles-partner in the
last four years. Together, they have won Birmingham 2005, Doha and Rome 2006,
and been runner-up at two Majors: French Open 2006 and Australian Open 2009.
Sugiyama has been Daniela's only doubles-partner outside Fed Cup this year, and
they are considered genuine contenders for the Wimbledon title!

When doubles-partners have to play each other in singles, the lower-ranked
player often prevails, because she has inside information about her partner, and
it's also tough emotionally to play your partner.

Sugiyama has been the lower-ranked player in all their singles-matches against
each other except in 2004, is currently lower ranked at #38 than Daniela's #32,
and leads their head to head 6:4:
- 2002 San Diego 2r: Sugiyama 6-4 1-6 7-5
+ 2004 Eastbourne qf: Daniela 6-1 7-6
- 2004 Montréal 2r: Sugiyama 1-6 6-4 6-4
- 2004 Linz 2r: Sugiyama 6-2 6-1
- 2005 San Diego 2r: Sugiyama 7-5 4-6 6-2
+ 2005 Zürich 1r: Daniela 1-6 7-5 6-4
+ 2006 Zürich 2r: Daniela 7-6 6-2
- 2008 Miami 3r: Sugiyama 6-4 6-7 7-5
- 2008 Stanford 2r: Sugiyama 6-3 6-1
+ 2008 Olympics 1r: Daniela 6-2 7-5

Sugiyama is a plucky counterpuncher; playing her is often like pulling teeth.

Sugiyama has been a tough opponent at Wimbledon even for top players over the
years. In 1996, she beat #5 Anke Huber 7-6 6-1 to reach the fourth round (which
she also reached in 2003). In 2002, she gave #4 Monica Seles a tough match
before losing 4-6 6-1 6-4. In the 2004 quarter-finals, she gave eventual
champion Maria Sharapova a mind-bogglingly difficult two sets before losing 5-7
7-5 6-1.
In 2006, she beat former champion Martina Hingis 7-5 3-6 6-4.

The good news for Daniela-fans is that Sugiyama has a terrible 6:13 win/loss
record for 2009 so far (including her two wins here). Her only four wins this
year prior to Wimbledon came in January.

At Sydney, she beat #65 Jill Craybas 6-2 6-3 and #23 Anabel Medina Garrigues 2-6
6-1 6-2, then received a walkover from Svetlana Kuznetsova to reach the
semi-finals, where she lost 6-4 7-6 to #3 Dinara Safina.

At the Australian Open, she beat #128 Stéphanie Dubois 6-0 7-6 and #69 Nathalie
Dechy 1-6 6-1 6-3 to reach the third round, where she lost 6-4 6-4 to #1 Jelena
Jankovic.

That started an 11-match losing-streak: up to and including her 6-7 7-5 6-4 loss
to #52 Vera Dushevina at Eastbourne.

But Sugiyama has reached the third round of Wimbledon with the following
results:
1r + PATTY SCHNYDER [21], 6-4 6-4
2r + Arantxa Parra Santonja [Q,S], 7-6 (7/5) 6-3

Daniela's path to the third round:
1r + Laura Robson [WC], 3-6 6-4 6-2
2r + ZHENG,JIE [16], 6-3 7-5

Given Sugiyama's form this year, I have to fancy Daniela's chances (and Daniela
herself, of course ;)), but it would be dangerous to underestimate Sugiyama with
all her experience and her 6:4 head-to-head over Daniela.

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4. Order of play for Friday
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Court 18 (start 12:00 BST = 11:00 GMT)
WS 3r: Daniela Hantuchová [EF] v Ai Sugiyama
WS 3r: DOMINIKA CIBULKOVÁ [14] v Elena Vesnina
WS 3r: MARION BARTOLI [12,DF,S] v Francesca Schiavone
MS 3r: Andreas Seppi v IGOR ANDREEV [29]

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

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