This is another tough match against an inspired opponent that Daniela has to battle through. Daniela's playing through pain and injury at the moment so every win is good but hopefully not at too great a cost. It explains a lot of her recent struggles after she had been in such fantastic form.


Hantuchova received treatment for a foot injury in the second set.

"It has been painful for quite some time. I had the same thing in the other foot five years ago," Hantuchova said. "It started to be very painful at the start of the second set; it was so painful I almost started to cry. But I wasn't going to give up. I came here to win the tournament. I've only had three or four retirements in my entire career. There's no way I'm going to give somebody a match."



Commenting on the match with Czinkovou Slovak said. "Melinda played that game in the first well and I had to dip into the reservoir of strength to match, I turned and advanced to the quarterfinals. At the end of the second game I chose medical time out and I had to treat heel. It was not easy tag match with injury, the more I am pleased that I managed to win it. As I mentioned, today's duel was held in a totally different spirit than the initial round of matches, I also fought for Pala Demitra," said Hantuchova.
@ google translate.

We'll see how Daniela does against Erakovic. Daniela thrashed Erakovic at Wimbledon and she wasn't 100% fit then. Erakovic beat Azaranka at Stanford and Daniela's not fully fit so this could be a tough match. So much will depend on how healthy Daniela is.

I doubt she'll get past Erakovic with the injury. Why Daniela entered here with this injury being there for 2 months is beyond me. She should be thinking ahead to next year where if fully fit could get some really great results.

Lesson #5 in how one goes from being a Daniela Maniac to just a maniac: Since when does one root not for one player or the other in a match, but rather for the match to go on and on? Paszek/Watson is a war right now, and the longer they go at it, the longer Daniela can stay off of her bad foot!

Well Daniela was being very foolhardy in playing on in this tournament-I hope the organisers give her a pat on the back.

Take a well-earned break Danka.

The only thing this match indicates is how badly she needs to rest. The poor lass has run herself into the ground.

This is disappointing but given the circumstances with Daniela playing injured then it was always going to be difficult for her. When she was fit earlier in the year, she was winning matches like this easily (she thrashed Erakovic at Wimbledon) but she lost to Parmentier at the US Open and struggled against Tomljanovic and Czink here. Erakovic did beat Azarenka at Stanford so she is capable of beating top players. I wonder if it was wise for Daniela to have played doubles at the US Open, she had a great run with Agnieszka but it might have been better to have rested up and she probably should have skipped the mixed doubles. If Daniela was healthy then this would have been a great chance for a trophy. I think if she'd won this match she'd have been Slovak no. 1 and gone up 3 places in the rankings as Cibulkova, Pennetta and Wickmayer were all 100 points or less ahead of Daniela.
I just hope that Daniela is able to get some rest and treatment and recover from her ailments and get fit and healthy again so she's able to do herself justice when she plays again. She only has Bali to defend between now and Pattaya so she doesn't need to rush back. Get well soon, Daniela.


2011-09-16
Daniela, who made it through her first two rounds of the Bell Challenge in spite of a left foot injury, couldn't make it out of another one, losing to Marina Erakovic in the quarterfinals, 64 64.

"Last night's quarterfinal was not very good, but I took some anti-inflammatories and today's match had nothing to do with my foot," Daniela said. "The loss was more in my head than anywhere else. I was pushing the ball instead of going for my shots. It was a few balls here and there and I didn't make them."

"I came here to win the tournament. I had a good chance. Maybe after getting through yesterday's match I was thinking too much about getting the title, and I put too much pressure on myself. I think I got a little ahead of myself."

Erakovic, a former Top 50 player, struggled with a hip injury the last two years but has returned to the Top 100 this year.

"It was very close today. I just tried to play my game, go after the ball and hang in there," Erakovic said. "Daniela's a great player. I lost to her quite convincingly recently at Wimbledon. I'm playing well and it's a great feeling to win today."


Daniela talking about the match:

"Women's tennis is really open now and anyone can win a big tournament, she said. This is what is most frustrating because I am working hard on the court and off court, and I have some opportunities, without succeeding. "

Exactly Daniela..