That's a nice bit of luck for Daniela. Anytime she gets a bye is a good day.

Oprandi has to be respected as, like everyone has said, Oprandi is a solid claycourter and she was competitive against Daniela when they played in Rome a few years ago. This is a really good opportunity for Daniela as her form and confidence has picked up this month.


"In tournament in Charleston played with a bandaged leg, but now we both rozohrávali in the match clothes, so I was surprised that finally not coming," said Hantuchova.

I'm pleasantly surprised so far from how am I doing on clay. In Charleston, I was in the finals, now I'm in the semifinals," said zverenka Swedish coach Peter Lundgren, who Oprandiovej be hard to match.

"It's very uncomfortable grueling. Last time we played together three years ago in Rome about three hours. Her style me pretty satisfying, as well as game Lourdes Dominguez Lino, with which I won in round 2. Than I have to be concentrated and be well on feet because of Marrakech is a high altitude and is difficult to control the ball," said Slovak deuce.
@ google translate

Daniela 5-3 up in the 2nd set...comon make it to a 3rd!

Meanwhile Daniela is not in the draw for Oreias presumably wants to prepare well for Madrid...

Oprandi is serving first in 3rd...a bit worrying...

Oprandi holding serve easily atm...1-2

Daniela was 30-0 but just lost 4 points in a row...1-3...fight back Daniela!

1-4 Daniela folding like cheap tent...can't see Daniela evrr reaching a clay final...

Huge hold for Daniela 2-4...gotta hope Oprandi will choke..

First job is for Daniela to hold...she does to love...annoyingly Daniela will probably win more points in this match than Oprandi but still lose...

95 points each...

Not Daniela's day. Daniela was actually two points from winning the first set 5-4 up but wasn't to be.

Overall a good tournament...got fortunate Peng withdrew but overall I'd have taken a semi final any day. Couldn't watch the match so would appreciate comments on how she played.

Fonnabula. (You don't want to know what that means.)
Frustrating mostly in that there were so many career firsts awaiting our gal. First title on clay, first time winning as #1 seed, first time winning 3 straight finals. Not meant to be.
Clearly, if Daniela tied in points won, she did not play horridly. Bad timing on the one break of serve in the 3rd. There is obvious progress in her game under Lundgren, and 5-2 on clay is a neat start (remember that she was very good on clay in '11....right, miss pink hair Caro?). But even this wild-eyed Daniela Maniac knows that she has hardly beaten Serena, Margaret Court and Helen Wills the last 2 tourneys. We all will be anxious to see if her game has moved up a level when she faces a top player again. There is room for optimism. Like eddy says, we'll always take a semi-final.

Shit. It would have been great to win here and a few points here and there made all the difference. She won as many as Oprandi but Oprandi won the last one and she was solid and effective in the match, especially on the drop shot which disrupted Daniela's rhythm. Serving first in the third set also helped Oprandi although she was solid on serve. Thanks for the match commentary and reports, Artur & eddy.

Daniela's gotten more points from the last two tournaments than she did in the entire clay season last year and Charleston and Marrakech are the first time Daniela's had consecutive wins at consecutive tournaments since Pattaya 2012. This is so disappointing and it would have been wonderful to win here but this gives Daniela decent points and I think she can look back on the past month Admittedly, she hasn't beaten a top player but she's been winning

I have seen the first set, and Daniela was actually very below par. She missed so many returns and also didn't exploit Oprandi's backhand at all which is such a floaty defensive shot..I am glad that she realised that she was not good today.