[新聞] Daniela Does It Again
STRASBOURG, France -
In 2000, a 17-year-old Slovak talent by the name of Daniela Hantuchova won her
way through qualifying at the Internationaux de Strasbourg and, ranked No.182,
made it all the way to what was the first WTA quarterfinal appearance of her
career. Eleven years later, the former world No.5 has returned to the event
for the first time - and, as the No.6 seed, she's through to the last eight
once again.
Hantuchova's second round victim on Wednesday was France's own Mathilde
Johansson, who began gamely enough by breaking serve in the second game of the
match. But Hantuchova broke right back, winning four games in a row for a
commanding lead. Although she needed two service attempts to close out the
opener, and also dropped her delivery in the first game of the second set, the
28-year-old's class told, 64 62.
"I didn't have much time to get used to the conditions before my first match,
but today I felt much better on court," Hantuchova said. "Today was very hot
and very fast, but that's how it's going to be in Paris. I'm really glad to be
playing here because I think it's a perfect preparation for next week."
Reflecting on the decade or so since her last visit to the Rhine-side city, she
added: "I was here, what, 11 years ago. My mom and I remembered the city being
so beautiful and the people being so nice to us. So we thought, we haven't been
here for such a long time, it would be great to come back. I'm really glad we
made this decision because we're having a great time."
Ironically, the player Hantuchova meets for a place in the semis is the very
same opponent she beat to reach the quarters all those years ago: Nadia Petrova.
On Wednesday, Petrova, seeded fourth, lost the first set to fellow wildcard
Alize Cornet but prevailed, 26 62 62. Her fellow Russian, fifth-seeded Maria
Kirilenko, was also pushed the distance. She recovered a 3-1 final set
deficit to edge Spain's Laura Pous-Tio, 63 36 76(5).
But for the rest of the favorites - seven of eight seeds have made their
appointed slots in the quarters - life was easier.
No.2 seed Andrea Petkovic moved past Zhang Shuai, 61 63; three-time champion
Anabel Medina Garrigues, the No.7 seed, breezed past Bojana Jovanovski, 62 60;
and No.8 Lucie Hradecka, the only seed still hunting her first WTA singles
title, beat French qualifier Stephanie Foretz Gacon, 62 64.
Top seed Marion Bartoli received a walkover from British No.1 Elena Baltacha,
who withdrew due to a right lumbar spine injury suffered in practice. More
satisfying, no doubt, was Croatian qualifier Mirjana Lucic's 62 62 defeat of
Jelena Dokic: the win put the 29-year-old through to her first WTA quarterfinal
since Wimbledon in 1999.
--
http://blog.pixnet.net/a881028
我的心情 我的生活
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 118.171.67.239
Hantuchova 近期熱門文章
PTT體育區 即時熱門文章
97
189