Well, I stringently stayed away from this and all tennis sites so that I could watch the match in full after I returned home from work. After nearly passing out twice during the tiebreak, I could stand no more and had to peak in to get the full result. It made watching the second set much easier.
To me, this was a middle of the road performance from Daniela. She still had the major unforced error problems that we have talked about for a while. On the positive side, she hit way more good to great shots than she usually does. When was the last time she had seven aces in a two set match?! Some of the points on the tiebreak, most notably the well-place ace at 5-6 and the great extension on the passing shot at 9-10 were brilliant. There were too many poor moments for it to be a peak-level performance, but there were plenty of glimpses of it. All in all, I think we have to be satisfied with her performance and the win. She should settle in nicely to the tournament now as her next singles and doubles match should not prove too much of a challenge (hopefully
). A couple of other miscellaneous notes: -Allison Lange should not be officiating anymore.
- With the new point structure, winning in round one is worth a marginal 95 points. A round two win is only worth a marginal 65 points, so this was a big win from a rankings perspective.
- Not that we ever have had reason to question her work ethic, but it's great to have it reinforced that she's working really hard.
I recorded it and I watched it later. But I saw live the two last games and... what a stress ! 
