Halep retired against Arruabarena. It's amazing how someone always seems to have an incredible week when they play Daniela.

I suppose Arruanarena having a good week is a small crumb of comfort to cling to. It would have been worse if she'd beaten Daniela and then been thrashed by McHale.

What a depressing year Daniela is having... I wonder if she can still find her game while on tour; I really hope so.

I miss our dancing, hand raising smilies. Just no reason to put them up these days.

It means that Daniela's withdrawn from Linz although she's still listed on the entry list on the tournament website:

I don't think that Daniela's ever recovered from playing in Dubai right after Pattaya. She was absolutely shattered after beating Barthel to start the year 9-3 and since then she has really struggled. We know that she's had longstanding back and shoulder problems and she's admitted to elbow problems this year so we know that physically she's less than 100% and playing hurt if not injured.

Just think how this year could have been if Erakovic or Begu had converted their MPs against Daniela. Admittedly a lot of the players that have beaten her like Bencic or Svitolina are good players and favourite for the match but players like Doi and Arruabarena are players that Daniela would have beaten easily in her prime but I just don't think she's been fully fit. Daniela's never been the same player since her foot injury in 2012. She's also one of the oldest players in the top 100 and Father Time beats everyone in the end which makes me wonder how some players are doing so well in their 30s.

Ty

Maybe not same success (except Williams sist..) in the early stage of their career..

It's not a surprise that Daniela's withdrawn from Luxembourg after withdrawing from Linz where she's no longer on the entry list. It feels that Daniela's giving this season a mercy killing and enjoying herself in Italy.

There's still the IPTL and playing in that seemed to give her a bit of momentum for the start of the season so a repeat would be nice. It would be fantastic if Daniela can get to the Olympics as it would mean so much to her.