Daniela starts with Alison van Uytvanck in the first round which will be quite tough. Van Uytvanck beat Daniela when they played in Hong Kong two years. She had a plunge down the rankings after missing the clay season due to injury but she's had some good results in ITFs in the USA, winning in Stockton & Las Vegas, and she got to the quarter-final in Quebec City before losing to Dodin who won the tournament.

The winner plays either Susanne Celik or Tara Moore.

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I never like it when Daniela goes up against a player with a name I can't spell or pronounce.
It would be cool if she can even the score from two years ago.

An absolutely fantastic fight back win by Daniela. She was absolutely vaporised in the first set, getting broken in all her service games and she had to save a BP in the first game of the second set before breaking Van Uytvanck in the fourth game to lead 3-1. Daniela was 0-40 in the sixth game but Van Uytvanck won five straight points to hold and Daniela also had a set point on Van Uytvanck's next service game but couldn't convert although she was able to serve it out in the next game to take the set 6-3. Daniela was also holding serve easily enough as she only faced one BP in the second set.
The third set went with serve until Daniela broke Van Uytvanck in an epic fifth game on her SIXTH BP, Van Uytvanck also had two GPs. Daniela also had to save 3 BPs in the next game before she won it on her 2nd GP then she broke Van Uytvanck in the next game. Daniela then served the match out to 15 winning the match on her second match point.

Daniela saving the BP in the first game of the second set turned the match around. If Van Uytvanck had won it then she had kept the momentum and it would have been really difficult for Daniela to turn things around. Daniela held serve throughout the second and third sets while she was able to break Van Uytvanck three times and put Van Uytvanck under pressure on her serve. The fifth, sixth and seventh games in the third set were so crucial with so many deuces but Daniela was able to win them and win the match.

Daniela play Tara Moore in the next round after she beat Celik in three sets.


Did you go to the match, Jean Raj?

It's another triumph of the heart and the spirit! The 6 BP game was not good for my BP (blood pressure!), yet it was Dani's mental strength through and through. Very grateful that I slept through the first set. Picked it up at 4-1 in the second, and from there it seemed like every point was difficult. The stats on serve prove that, though Daniela's numbers got a little better in the third. Alison's BP saved numbers show that she's a fighter, but in the end, it's not how many our gal converted, it's when, and all of them came at key spots in the match.
So proud of Dani. #561 in the books!