A Tennis Fairytale - Daniela & A Delayed Match Report
Yes we're running a bit behind here at FF as you've no doubt noticed. But hey that doesn't mean we can't dredge up old sports news! Your correspondent was fortunately able to attend parts of the 2006 Australian in Melbourne, whereupon he had the pleasure of viewing a number of matches featuring the 'Slovakian Swan', Daniela Hantuchova.
The first round was a rather untidy affair taking 3 sets after our favourite dropped the first carelessly to a Japanese player of little renown. In the 2nd round she faced a player from Uzbekistan, Akgul Amanmuradova, who I had never heard of. Amanmuradova is big. Yes quite big. Big as in 6'2"and broad shouldered to boot. In fact when she first came onto the court (in a men's shirt and shorts) I thought she was a man. Unfortunately for her, her size proved to be more a liability than an asset as Daniela was able to move her around the court more than she was comfortable with. Despite her opponent's big 1st serve (avg 175 km/h, max 185 km/h) Daniela was able to win quite comfortably 6-4, 6-1 with quite a few winners and not too many unforced errors which in the past has been a problem for her. I detected a greater use of topspin in her groundstrokes, particularly off the backhand and this has evidently increased her margin of safety.
Now as enjoyable as all this was, we were in for a much greater treat albeit your correspondent wasn't there in person for this gem. The Princess next faced the Darth Vader of Women's tennis, Serena Williams. Having seen quite a few of Daniela's matchs against both Serena and Venus Williams I had little hope that the result would end favourably. What has hitherto happened the last 5 or 6 times is that the Sisters Williams have basically smashed our Daniela off the court and Daniela not helping things by gifting a bunch of points away on unforced errors.
Yet for some reason on that special night things were different. Serena wasn't quite in rhythm, playing loose shots and lacking the incredible speed she possessed in prior years; while Daniela was hitting lines instead of errors. The ferocious Wiliams serve was strangely quite vulnerable with Daniela making 4 of an incredible 16 break point opportunities! The 1st set was over quick with Daniela taking it 6-1. In the second Serena launched a comeback midset and manged to break Daniela. I must confess at this moment I had my doubts. Could she overcome this setback or would she falter like so many times before?
Well, the match line read 6-1, 7-5 Hantuchova. Truly a most improbable, unexpected yet wonderful result to savour. Now the fairytale had to end at some point, and it did against the It Girl of the WTA tour, Maria Sharapova. Nonetheles, Daniela ended a good Australian Open campaign respectably, giving Sharapova a bit of a fight before going out 6-4, 6-4.
The first round was a rather untidy affair taking 3 sets after our favourite dropped the first carelessly to a Japanese player of little renown. In the 2nd round she faced a player from Uzbekistan, Akgul Amanmuradova, who I had never heard of. Amanmuradova is big. Yes quite big. Big as in 6'2"and broad shouldered to boot. In fact when she first came onto the court (in a men's shirt and shorts) I thought she was a man. Unfortunately for her, her size proved to be more a liability than an asset as Daniela was able to move her around the court more than she was comfortable with. Despite her opponent's big 1st serve (avg 175 km/h, max 185 km/h) Daniela was able to win quite comfortably 6-4, 6-1 with quite a few winners and not too many unforced errors which in the past has been a problem for her. I detected a greater use of topspin in her groundstrokes, particularly off the backhand and this has evidently increased her margin of safety.
Now as enjoyable as all this was, we were in for a much greater treat albeit your correspondent wasn't there in person for this gem. The Princess next faced the Darth Vader of Women's tennis, Serena Williams. Having seen quite a few of Daniela's matchs against both Serena and Venus Williams I had little hope that the result would end favourably. What has hitherto happened the last 5 or 6 times is that the Sisters Williams have basically smashed our Daniela off the court and Daniela not helping things by gifting a bunch of points away on unforced errors.
Yet for some reason on that special night things were different. Serena wasn't quite in rhythm, playing loose shots and lacking the incredible speed she possessed in prior years; while Daniela was hitting lines instead of errors. The ferocious Wiliams serve was strangely quite vulnerable with Daniela making 4 of an incredible 16 break point opportunities! The 1st set was over quick with Daniela taking it 6-1. In the second Serena launched a comeback midset and manged to break Daniela. I must confess at this moment I had my doubts. Could she overcome this setback or would she falter like so many times before?
Well, the match line read 6-1, 7-5 Hantuchova. Truly a most improbable, unexpected yet wonderful result to savour. Now the fairytale had to end at some point, and it did against the It Girl of the WTA tour, Maria Sharapova. Nonetheles, Daniela ended a good Australian Open campaign respectably, giving Sharapova a bit of a fight before going out 6-4, 6-4.
posted by Dr. Kananga at 9:09 AM
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