Well, all in all, this draw is terrible! Laura Robson is definately a potential banana skin, and could send Daniela crashing out of a grand slam in the first round for the second straight time. If Daniela overcomes Robson (which she should), she will most likely play last years semi-finalist Zheng Jie, seeded 16th this year. This, in my oppinion, is a very tough second round match since Zheng is a good grass court player and seems to compete well when up against the top players on the tour. I don't think there is much point in looking beyond the first two rounds since Daniela will have her work cut out just to get into round 3 this year.
I don't see how you can ask for a better opponent than Robson in round one. She's 15 and ranked #484 and the list of 15 year-olds who have won at Grand Slams before is really small. Pavlyuchekova was a better junior than Laura and Daniela destroyed her at the same age.
As for Zheng, if the rankings system weighted more recent stuff more heavily than stuff a year ago, which of course it should, she would be outside the top 25. A match against Zheng won't be easy, but Daniela could have drawn any seeded player and I don't see that are too many seeded players who would be easier than Zheng. Prior to last year, Zheng was only 2-2 at Wimbledon and her run last year was aided by good fortune (drawing Vaidisova in the QF, Szavay in the round of 16) though she did beat Ivanovic easy.
Robson took a set of Benesova last year in Luxembourg, and has improved alot since then. There is no point comparing her to Pavlyuchenkova because in my oppinion she is alot better than the Russian and has far more potential. I think Daniela will beat her if she plays reasonably well, I'm just pointing out that Robson could well challenge Daniela and potentially take a set off her. Robson will have huge home support this year since she won the junior title last year, and if Daniela doesn't play particularly well then it could end up being a tough match.
Regarding Zheng, again it is an opponant that Daniela can beat in straight sets if she plays well. If not, then its another tough match. With a draw like this the third round seems a long way away. If she does get there, then she has a real chance of a fourth round finish, since she would mostly likely meet Schnyder, Tanasugarn or Sugiyama (players that Daniela is very capable of beating). Being in Serena's section means that a better result seems highly unlikely right now.
At the moment though, I don't see any point in looking that far ahead. In the words of Chungwit: let's take it "one match at a time".
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Dates: June 22 - July 5, 2009
