Category Archives: Daniela Hantuchova

Movin' On — Verdasco wins, Ivanovic loses, Hantuchova fights

Posted on August 4, 2010 by Tumaini

ATP Washington Draw
WTA San Diego Draw
WTA Copenhagen Draw

Tuesday saw the first rounds conclude and the second rounds begin in all three tournaments taking place this week. At the ATP 500 event in Washington, the most significant result was Fernando Verdasco’s comeback against Berrer. He saved two match points on Berrer’s serve in the second set before storming back to take the match to a third set tiebreak. At 6-6 in the tiebreak he sprained his ankle and all looked lost, but he recovered to win the next two points and wrap up the match. Hopefully this will be a confidence boost to the Spaniard who has been universally criticized recently for his poor schedule. He also joined twitter a couple of days ago so say hi!

Other (second round) winners include Roddick, Cilic, Isner, Fish and Simon. Really nice to see Gilles winning through easily and apparently he was playing great so long may it continue! The only bonafide upset of the day was American qualifier Ryan Sweeting taking out fourteenth seed Michael Llodra. Sweeting is a talented player with an attractive game so keep an eye out for him.

Over in San Diego, there was more drama as Daniela Hantuchova fought back and saved three match points (*gasp*) to defeat sixth seed Marion Bartoli 3-6 7-6 6-4. The Slovakian, not usually known for her mental strength, produced quite a shock considering only last week she had collapsed to Shahar Peer after winning the first set 6-0. Elsewhere, Zvonareva won her first match since the Wimbledon final, Kuznetsova got a rare win and A-Rad moved through. The only non-Grand Slam 4th rounder to go through was Coco Vandeweghe who took out an injured Gisela Dulko 6-0 3-0 ret. Also check out the new partnership of Kirilenko and Zheng, sure to be a crowd pleaser for cuteness alone.

Meanwhile, Ana Ivanovic lost out to Peer in two tight sets. You have to wonder when she is going to realise that she is in a slump and actually drop down to play some lower events, or else this will just keep on happening. She is saying that she will “consider” playing qualifiers at Montreal but it shouldn’t even be something she needs to think about. She desperately needs to get back into the feeling of winning and even if she does win a match at one of these events, just like last week she will eventually come up against a top 30/20/10 player and just be brushed aside.

And finally, the Wozniacki Invitational in Copenhagen. Miss Wozniacki herself was an easy winner against Petra Martic and she was joined by Keothavong, Baltacha, Benesova, Hercog and Cirstea who took out Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova in three sets. Kvitova has actually gone 0-3 since Wimbledon but don’t be quick to label her a ‘fluke’. Her uncompromising aggressive game is always going to produce streaky results and it has throughout her career already. Unless she decides to be more conservative and play the margins a little more, expect the Czech to have more big runs in the future followed by letdowns like this.

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Posted in Caroline Wozniacki, Copenhagen, Daniela Hantuchova, Fernando Verdasco, San Diego, Washington | Leave a comment

WTA Stanford and ATP Los Angeles Roundup

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Tumaini

WTA Bank Of The West Classic

Draw

OOP

(4) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. Ashley Harkleroad (USA) 61 64
(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Zheng Jie (CHN) 64 75
(6) Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 06 64 63
(7) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) d. Chan Yung-Jan (TPE) 63 61
(8/WC) Victoria Azarenka (BLR) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 60 62
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (Q) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) 61 64
Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 67(6) 75 63
(Q) Olga Savchuk (UKR) d. Jill Craybas (USA) 63 63
(Q) Christina McHale (USA) d. (Q) Chang Kai-Chen (TPE) 36 60 62

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(Getty)

There were no shocks as day two of the Bank Of The West Classic drew to a close with all seeds advancing through to the second round. Maria Sharapova managed to finally get that first top forty win of the year which had been one of the most prominent topics over the last few weeks by defeating Zheng Jie 6-4 7-5. It is also nice to Ashley Harkleroad back and actually competing. The American had played in her first tournament since giving birth at Miami this year after only one month of practise and she was crushed by Alicia Molik 1-6 1-6, but she put up a far better fight this week and even was a break up over defending champion Marion Bartoli in the second set.

Daniela Hantuchova had a flashback to the Australian Open 2008 semifinal when she won the first set without dropping a game, only to lose the next two sets to the gritty Shahar Peer. Also, Melanie Oudin believed and then rallied from a set and 1-5 down saving matchpoint against Aleksandra Wozniak to take the match 6-3 in the third set. After Melanie Oudin’s comments in April regarding who she felt should represent the USA in the Fed Cup Final, Bethanie Mattek is said to have commented this week on her belief that only the team who got USA to the Final should be able to play (and so the Williams Sisters shouldn’t be considered).

It is an interesting debate, but at the end of the day when both Serena and Venus have committed to play Fed Cup and then have withdrawn, they have both had bonafide injuries. If this was a case of them not caring about Fed Cup and then suddenly commiting because the USA had made the final then the comments from Oudin and Mattek-Sands would be much more understandable. However the USA need their best team or else they will simply be humliated by Italy again - especially as Italy now have a Grand Slam Champion in their team. Also, by speaking out like this it will only create a bad atmosphere if either sister is indeed called up to the team.

ATP Farmers Classic:

Draw

OOP

[Q] T Smyczek (USA) d T Gabashvili (RUS) 62 63
A Falla (COL) d K Beck (SVK) 76(3) 64
[WC] J Blake (USA) d L Mayer (ARG) 61 64
B Becker (GER) d [LL] G Lapentti (ECU) 75 76(6)
[Q] S Devvarman (IND) d [Q] S Johnson (USA) 64 64
[WC] R Sweeting (USA) d K Vliegen (BEL) 26 63 64
R Ginepri (USA) d [Q] I Bozoljac (SRB) 63 64
K Anderson (RSA) d I Marchenko (UKR) 63 62

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There were no seeds in action on tuesday at the Farmers Classic but even with the withdrawal of last week’s Atlanta winner Mardy Fish, it was a great day for the Americans as five won through to the second round. The winners included wildcards James Blake and Ryan Sweeting. Interestingly, Serena Williams was also in attendance with her foot still firmly in a cast and she allegedly was standing right in front of Shino Tsurubuchi, the linesjudge involved in that fateful US Open footfaulting incident from last year. Close your mouth, Shino!

ATP Umag draw

ATP Gstaad draw

WTA Istanbul draw

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Posted in Ashley Harkleroad, Daniela Hantuchova, Fed Cup, Mardy Fish, Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Melanie Oudin, Serena Williams, Shino Tsurubuchi, Tennis | Leave a comment

Doubles Drama at the Bank Of The West Classic

Posted on July 26, 2010 by Tumaini

Tennis fans appear to be paying  more attention to the doubles tournament than the singles event this week at the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford.

Two weeks ago it was announced that Maria Sharapova and Yanina Wickmayer were to team up as double partners for the Bank of The West Classic. To say it didn’t go down well with tennis fans would be a gross understatemt, as anger and disbelief gripped tennis fans worldwide, leading them to burn effigies of Wickmayer while condemning her to an eternity in hell.

Two days ago however, Wickmayer posted an angry message on her twitter page which stated that the Stanford organisers had denied their wildcard request. The whole saga looked to be over but as the doubles draw was released, it emerged that Wickmayer had instead decided to team up with Hantuchova, and suddenly Hantuchova became a figure of hate as fans threatened to invade her dreams and turn them into nightmares.

(Credit to Fierce Tennis)

Incidentally, Wickmayer and Hantuchova were drawn up against another surprise doubles team as Maria Kirilenko and Victoria Azarenka decided to team up for the first time since New Haven in 2007. The news that Kirilenko and Azarenka (or ‘Vikkiri’ as they are now affectionally known as) would be playing together recieved a much more positive reception as fans raced to create pictorial tributes to the two players. The vast majority of the tennis community will be hoping that ‘Vikkiri’ will put a stop to the ‘Devil and her advocate’ on tuesday, or else all hell will break loose.

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Posted in Daniela Hantuchova, Maria Kirilenko, Maria Sharapova, Victoria Azarenka, Yanina Wickmayer | Leave a comment