I don't know who creates the crawl in the upper right corner that has Daniela's results/upcoming 1st opponent. Whomever it is, my thanks to that person. For the last 3 days it has said "Charleston 1R: Daniela ve Shelby Rogers(USA)". That error (ve rather than vs) has proven to be the biggest jinx breaker perhaps in the history of the Forum! Keep doing it!

Here are a few words of wisdom from the March 29 edition of the Charleston Post and Courier from writer James Beck.
"Brian Minton sees 12th seed Daniela Hantuchova as a good first-round opponent for his former pupil (Rogers). Hantuchova is tall and lanky and not particularly a great clay-court player. In short, Hantuchova has had an up-and-down career marked by inconsistencies in her game. As far as facing Hantuchova in the opening round, (Rogers) said 'I'm OK with the draw. I've never played or practiced with her....She hits a hard, flat ball that I think is better suited for hard courts. I'll just try to get her out of her rhythm.' Hantuchova was a first-round loser last year on Daniel Island."

Do you get the sense that they thought Daniela was an easy mark for their hometown girl? Now I know none of us were about to bet the mortgage on Dani winning today. But in the end, it appears that Mr. Ross, Mr. Minton and to some extent Ms. Rogers have all come out as April Fools!

Holy crap, guys, Serena's out! Cepelova in straight sets (4 & 4)!

Well well with Serena and Cirstea losing that means Daniela is the highest ranked player in the top half. One round at a time for Daniela but this is such a golden opportunity to bag the points she missed these past few months.

Any stream for court 3..?

Awful start broken to 15...

Daniela rattles off 6 games in a row to take the first set 6-2 in 27 minutes. Keep it up Daniela!

Excellent win 6-2 6-3 in just over an hour...only 4/12 break points won though so she'll need to tighten that up against Periera.

I can get used to this each morning!
It was a bit worrisome when Daniela fell behind 0-2. But she certainly took charge after that. Most of the missed break points came in long games where, with typical perseverance, she achieved the break. It felt good to see Dani just kick the crap out of someone. If we overlook her win over Erakovic in Paris, where Erakovic retired, the last time our gal won a match easily goes all the way back to mid-October in Moscow, where she thrashed, oddly enough, her most recent doubles partner of the week Arantxa.
You guys catch the article from the Rogers match from Tennis World? Lundgren was totally baffled about being able to go down and talk to Dani. "Hantuchova said he was not sure what to do during the coaching timeouts." That's OK. Maybe, just maybe, he's sure what to do at all other times with Daniela and is beginning to help her be the top flight player she still wants to be.

Daniela's the first match on Althea Gibson, play starts at 11am.

This roller coaster ride is fun this week! So Daniellan....3 wins in 3 months, now 3 wins in 3 days. Gotta love it! A goodly amount of nailbiting between 5-0 in the 1st to 2-3 down a break in the 2nd. However, it looks like Dani's confidence is rising through the roof. She's taking charge at the exact right times and winning a lot of the big points. It's like the phoenix rising from the ashes! Should she go on a nice long roll with Lundgren, would that be the first time in tennis history that a player benefitted from the injury of a coach?
We all felt that we'd be satisfied with a win or two, and thrilled of she made quarters. Now, I think we want more! And Daniela just might be about to give that to us. Crossed fingers!

I love it, 3 matches in a row! Hopefully she can keep going. I hope this is the turn around moment this year.