SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OPEN PLAYERS

Carlsbad, California
July 29 - August 4, 2013

Victoria Azarenka 3 BLR
Agnieszka Radwanska 4 POL
Petra Kvitova 7 CZE
Roberta Vinci 11 ITA
(WC) Samantha Stosur 13 AUS
Flavia Pennetta 14* (Special Ranking) ITA
Jelena Jankovic 16 SRB
Ana Ivanovic 17 SRB
Carla Suárez Navarro 19 ESP
Dominika Cibulkova 25 SVK
Svetlana Kuznetsova 27 RUS
Laura Robson 31 GBR
Varvara Lepchenko 40 USA
Urszula Radwanska 42 POL
Julia Goerges 43 GER
Daniela Hantuchova 46 SVK
Monica Puig 49 PUR
Ayumi Morita 51 JPN
Bethanie Mattek-Sands 54 USA
Francesca Schiavone 59 ITA
Mallory Burdette 76 USA
Tamira Paszek 114 AUT
(WC) Virginie Razzano 129 FRA
(WC) Allie Kiick 294 USA
Women's ranks as of July 22, 2013

Paszek's a pretty decent opener as she's been terrible this year. However, she's beaten Daniela in both their previous matches and she's someone that's capable of finding form out of nowhere like Eastbourne and Wimbledon last year so she has to be respected.

Agnieszka Radwanska will be tough in the second round although we don't know what she's going to be like after her run in Stanford and Daniela has to get past the first round.

I wonder who Daniela will be playing doubles with here.

Daniela & Hingis start with Goerges & Jurak. If they win that then they'd play Robson/Raymond or Spears/Kops-Jones so it's a tough draw.

Live from La Mesa, California...Tomorrow's schedule is out. Daniela faces Paszek on the main court in a nighttime match, no earlier than 7:00 PM here, with 4 matches preceding it. Look for me! Dani owes Paszek one from last year. Of course that was also true last week with U. Radwanska, but I'll be rooting for a different outcome this time!

Haven't seen a ball hit yet, Chungwit. My wife and me are out here for a number of reasons, and there's a large outdoor mall up the street from the place we are staying, fill in the blank. Oddly, because we did not rent a vehicle and public transportation was not well timed, we made a snap decision to stay tonight and tomorrow at the resort where the tourney takes place. It's also where the players stay. Just how life always works: In a lobby a Slovakian tennis star whose first name begins with D walked by me and sent me a little smile. It was…Dominika, of course. Still hopeful for a meeting (just isn't time to hang around practice courts), and I will be rooting my brains out for Dani!

pmr44, I had researched that a few months ago, and indeed this is Daniela's first double bagel, either for or against her.
So guys, I went to see Daniela and history broke out! One of you had said it would be nice if I brought her luck, and I have been wishing for months that she'd just crush someone like a grape. She just chose to wait until I could happen along to see it for myself! You would have loved it. Not only was it fun to watch, but it was highly encouraging. From her second service game on, 1st serves were consistently 100 mph plus, reaching as high as 106. She quickly saw what she was facing and showed no mercy (with the exception of 3 ghoulish drop shots, though she closed the first set with an exquisite one). Toward the end, it really did look like she wanted the double bagel (I had great seats and could see her reactions). Now it has to be said that 2-16 Paszek was abysmal. She made 7 double faults, 6 in the first set, 5 in her first two service games. Her speeds were high 70's and low 80's, and two of her first serves failed to even reach the net! At times it looked like a glorified practice. Several times she'd creampuff a serve and Dani would simply pick a corner and rip a winner. It took all of 47 minutes.
Now for the better part. With a very small crowd on hand, Stormy and I were able to scout the place. She rides a motorized scooter due to a very bad back, and when it became obvious what was going to happen, she scooted to the area players enter and exit. I joined her after match point. There was an on court interview, and most autograph seekers were accommodated by Dani at side court. She then walked up the bleachers and was greeted by Martina Hingis. Then she headed our way. No picture this time, but we got a signature, and way better, a brief conversation! Which ended with a smile from Daniela as she thanked us for coming. Please, don't anyone throw a bucket of cold water in my face and awaken me!!! It is no contest who the happiest guy in America this night!

Daniela's doubles match is the first match of the evening session starting at 7pm.