HANTUCHOVA BATTLES INTO THE SEMI-FINALS

by Barry Wood

Bali, 12 September 2008 - Daniela Hantuchova had it easy against Taiwan's Yung-Jan Chan in their Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic quarter-final on Friday. But not for long.

It couldn't have started better for the top-seeded Slovak as she swept the opening four games for the loss of only five points. It appeared as if the 19-year old was going to be embarrassed by last year's runner-up, but instead she settled into the match and gave Hantuchova a real battle before surrendering 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 6-2.

Hantuchova has struggled since returning to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour at Wimbledon after missing 10 weeks with a stress fracture. She admitted this week that she had probably come back to the Tour too soon, but she hadn't wanted to miss Wimbledon. So another early defeat would have been a real confidence crusher.

Chan cared nothing about that. She wanted to win, and her pounding groundstrokes often had Hantuchova on the defensive. Chan held an impressive 17 break points on Hantuchova's serve, winning eight of them. Unfortunately for her, she faced nine break points herself, and Hantuchova won every one.

"I'm just so excited to be in the semis after what I had to go through with my injury," said Hantuchova. "I was very proud how I kept fighting, tried to weather the storm, because she was playing unbelievable. She was going for every shot and at one point there was not much I could have done."

Hantuchova now plays 17-year old Tamira Paszek for a place in the final after the Austrian defeated third seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta 4-6 6-0 6-2. Success finally caught up with Pennetta, who since Wimbledon has reached the semi-finals in Palermo, the final of Los Angeles and the quarter-finals of the US Open.

The other semi-final will be between second seed Patty Schnyder and fourth seed Nadia Petrova. Schnyder had it easy, taking only 51 minutes to overcome Marta Domachowska 6-2 6-2.

"The way I started was really good," said Schnyder. "I made no errors, I served really well, and even my movement got better with the match. I think the way I played my game she doesn't really like, when she has to adjust to the balls, my speed and the height of it. So that was a big advantage for me."

Petrova's 6-4 6-3 win over fifth seed Francesca Schiavone wasn't so straight-forward. Despite holding four game points to win her first service game, Petrova was broken and then went down 3-0. Her Italian opponent was being aggressive, coming into the net, hitting some great angles.

But Petrova eventually worked her way into the match. In fact, she did more than that, at one stage winning 12 of 13 points to level at 4-4. Then she broke again to lead 5-4, and held off two break points to take the set on her fourth set point. The second set was much easier as she consolidated her advantage by breaking to lead 2-1, and she broke once again in the final game.

"I just got mad at myself that I really let the beginning of the match slip that way and I was very unhappy I didn't give the right fight. I gave her the 4-1 lead, but then I was very strict with myself and pulled myself together and really started fighting for every single point."

"After winning the first set I felt a little bit more in charge of the game. I felt more confidence on my service games in the second set, and overall I'm quite happy with the performance."

Comments:

Berry | 12 Sep 2008 10:15 pm

1 - Hantuchova, Hantuchova, Hantuchova, no respect for Patty or another players. I watch the match, poor performance of this tournament pin up girl

Balwin | 12 Sep 2008 10:18 pm

2 - Berry, I agree, it's a laughing stock. Hantuchova is arogant, OK a big beanpole. Lets go Nadia, Patty and Tamira

Jordan | 12 Sep 2008 10:22 pm

3 - Barry Wood is in LOVE with her, or? She's an awful bore. I hope Patty or Tamira win the title

Randy | 12 Sep 2008 10:30 pm

4 - go daniela go... you deserve to win this one

Max | 12 Sep 2008 10:30 pm

5 - Well done, Nadia and Tamira! I hope it will be a Nadia Petrova vs. Tamira Paszek final! Both play a beautiful way of tennis, are simply a delight to watch!

Alessandro | 12 Sep 2008 10:31 pm

6 - Pff, peccato Flavia e francesca.. Buona fortuna x la prossima Settimana! Credo in voi, Forza!x

Will | 12 Sep 2008 10:33 pm

7 - go patty, go patty, win the tournament, PLEASE

Yudi | 12 Sep 2008 10:47 pm

8 - It's strong message for Seeded Player, NEVER under estimate unseeded, good lesson for them, Go Tamira/Patty

Cyril | 12 Sep 2008 11:50 pm

9 - Go Daniela!!! You are the best!!
Don't mind your critics.
You are still the best!

Yuri | 12 Sep 2008 11:51 pm

10 - GO DANIELA HANTUCHOVA!!

florence | 12 Sep 2008 11:56 pm

11 - Yeah, go home Daniela, nothing is real, she's a big fake. Final: Patty - Tamira

Coco | 13 Sep 2008 05:25 am

12 - Go daniela we hope to see you raise that trophy!

Kat | 13 Sep 2008 08:55 am

13 - Some of you are truly ignorant. Daniela has no respect for Patty? Last year, who was the one who kicked her waterbottle after the match and didn't even properly shake hands? Patty, not Daniela.

James | 13 Sep 2008 11:28 am

14 -
What the hell? All of you are complete idiots. What is your beef with Daniela Hantuchova? What has she done to deserve such criticism? She's a brilliant tennis player. I hope to see this girl win the trophy. She deserves it.

Leigh | 13 Sep 2008 12:05 pm

15 - GO Daniela. Your the best. I hope you can get back to your best form and the first step is gettin through this semi. Go for it!!!

Kate | 13 Sep 2008 02:02 pm

16 - Thank you !! Kat and James!
I have been wondering the same thing.
The Hantuchova-Schnyder thing was totally Schnyder's Fault. Look it up on dailymotion.

Jean-Paul, Luxembourg | 13 Sep 2008 02:20 pm

17 - In Luxembourg the empire won the match. A lot of bad and wrong calls against Patty. Was hard to see, because Patty normaly won this match.

Michael | 13 Sep 2008 03:03 pm

18 - Good luck in the semi's Daniella! you can do it, make sure you ignore these hyper critical idiots and make us all proud as usual

duhanko | 13 Sep 2008 03:49 pm

19 -
Congratulation!!!! I hope, that you will be winner. Go Daniela, GO GO!! Good luck.

Tom | 13 Sep 2008 04:55 pm

20 -

what the hell!
daniela is amazing
its good to see that after a not so good year shes bounced back here and had a good showing
i hope she goes all the way
GO DANIELA!

nika | 13 Sep 2008 07:13 pm

21 - Daniela, si super! Zvladnes a znovu budes v super forme. Vyhras to! Drz sa!

gregslow | 13 Sep 2008 07:59 pm

22 - well done, tamira, way to go.
und im finale packst'es a no!