Hantuchova Stunned by Canadian Qualifier
QUEBEC CITY, Canada - The seeds are dropping quickly this week at the Bell
Challenge in Quebec City.
One day after No.3 seed Mashona Washington and No.8 Samantha Stosur were sent
home early, No.2 seed Daniela Hantuchova, No.5 Tamarine Tanasugarn and No.7
Laura Granville were also defeated, leaving the tournament with just three
remaining seeded players after Day 3.
The most surprising of upsets came with the loss by Hantuchova, who fell to
Canada qualifier Melanie Gloria, 63 26 61.
Hantuchova got off to a slow start and seemed to struggle with her service game.
On the flip side, Gloria came out firing away, mixing up her shots and playing
well beyond a player ranked outside of No. 1000.
Hantuchova seemed to settle into the match by the second set, attacking more
and hitting the ball more cleanly. But in the third, the nerves seemed to creep
back in and Hantuchova became error prone again, dropping serve in the first
game of the third set. Gloria held for 2-0 and then Hantuchova won her next
service game, but didn't win another game the rest of the way.
"She had nothing to lose, but I made too many mistakes," Hantuchova said. "If I
played like I did in the second set, I would have been okay. In the second set,
I was going for my shots, but in the third, I got tight again like in the first.
I seem to have a hard time when I'm playing matches where I should win. This is
something I need to work on next season. I always play better if I'm playing
against someone ranked higher than me, when I have nothing to lose."
Hantuchova was impressed by the player of her relatively unknown Canadian
opponent, who was playing in her fifth match of the week after playing three
matches in the qualifying rounds and also having a first round victory against
Frenchwoman Stephanie Foretz.
"It may have helped that she had four matches before," Hantuchova said. "She
played well, and this is obviously good for her and good for the tournament to
have a Canadian through to the next round."
Gloria, who is just 17-years-old, had never defeated a player as highly ranked
as Hantuchova and was surprised to pick up the victory.
"I was so surprised," Gloria said. "I knew (Hantuchova) was ranked around No.30,
so I really didn't expect to win. I just went out there and played my game.
"I was nervous in the first set but got the crowd going early, which helped me
a lot. After winning the first set, I was kind of shocked and I think my game
went down a bit. But I stay focused and broke her in the first game and went
on from there."
Gloria wasn't alone as the only Canadian winner on Wednesday. Fellow Quebecer
Stephanie Dubois, who just celebrated her 18th birthday on Sunday, won her
first round match, defeating Israel's Tzipora Obziler, 62 62.
Hantuchova wasn't the only seed experiencing some problems on Wednesday. No.5
seed Tanasugarn missed out on her opportunity to reach the quarterfinals with a
75 75 loss to Lubomira Kurhajcova.
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