Li, Hantuchova Advance To Indian Wells Semis
March 14, 2007
Li, Hantuchova Advance To Indian Wells Semis
INDIAN WELLS, CA, USA - Five years after winning her first and so far only
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, Daniela Hantuchova is on the verge of
her second, at the very site of that breakthrough victory.
A day after beating Martina Hingis in a repeat of the 2002 Pacific Life Open
final, the No.14-seeded Slovak advanced to the semifinals with a nail-biting,
62 57 76(5) win over 19-year-old Israeli Shahar Peer.
Hantuchova needed two hours, 53 minutes to subdue the brave challenge of Peer,
who also came tantalisingly close to beating eventual champion Serena
Williams at the Australian Open in January. Peer scraped through the second
set and led 5-3 in the subsequent tie-break, but her opponent's greater
experience won through.
"With her, it's never easy," said a jubilant Hantuchova, through to her third
career Tier I semifinal. "She's a great fighter and I was expecting that coming
to the match, so I knew it was going to be a battle, which I think the score
is proving. I'm just really glad how I pulled it out at the end."
Peer, appearing in her second Tier I quarterfinal, overcame a poor start to
the match but couldn't quite finish the task at hand.
"I think first set was very bad," said No.11-seeded Peer. "She was dictating
from the first ball of the point, each point, and I was just putting maybe a
little bit more first serves, trying to make her move a little bit and tried
to take control of the point."
Having prevented Hantuchova from serving the match out at 5-4 in the third
Peer seemed to have the momentum with her, building a healthy lead in the
tie-break. However, Hantuchova surged to win the last four points.
"After I won the 5-all [game] to 6-5 I felt I was playing better, but she was
serving very well at 6-5. The whole match she was serving unbelievably and
especially in the tiebreak. She put [in] so many first serves, so it was hard
to break her every time."
Hantuchova ranked No.5 in the world at the start of 2003, but struggling with
the weight of expectation, fell outside the Top 50 less than 18 months later.
The 23-year-old now appears back on track.
"I think I'm understanding much better, if something goes wrong, it's part of
the game, and it's okay, not to be perfect all the time. And, you know, just
to try to figure out how to turn things around in my way and always try to
stay positive."
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