MAIN DRAW - last modified on 31 Mar 2017

1 Su-Wei HSIEH (TPE) 100
2 Viktoria KAMENSKAYA (RUS) 196
3 Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) 201
4 Katarzyna PITER (POL) 215
5 Valeria SOLOVYEVA (RUS) 217
6 Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK) 222
7 Alize LIM (FRA) 230
8 Olivia ROGOWSKA (AUS) 232
9 Bianca ANDREESCU (CAN) 235
10 Anna Karolina SCHMIEDLOVA (SVK) 241
11 Irina Maria BARA (ROU) 244
12 Karolina MUCHOVA (CZE) 247
13 Barbora KREJCIKOVA (CZE) 256
14 Kathinka VON DEICHMANN (LIE) 257
15 Georgina GARCIA-PEREZ (ESP) 269
16 Olga SAEZ LARRA (ESP) 270
17 Kaja JUVAN (SLO) 709

Daniela starts with Jessica Pieri of Italy. Pieri got a wildcard in and her recent results have been pretty poor. She's lost in the first round in Santa Margherita Di Pula the last two weeks - she also lost in the first round here in October - and her only wins this year have been on hardcourt in China. At the same time she won a $25,000 event on clay in Romania last year so she has to be respected. The winner plays either Laura Schaeder of Germany or Polina Leykina of Russia in the next round.

Daniela's the third match on Court 4, not before 11 am. Play starts at 9:30 am.

It don't come easy. That was....excuse me while I exhale.
I don't know whether to celebrate or check into a sanitarium. This was a days of yore, excruciating, gut spilling, nail chewing, Pepto Bismol guzzling, WTF Dani/next point yes, yes, yes, comeback 3 set, 3+hour Danielathon! She must be gassed, but she dug deep in her usual, beyond admirable fashion.
I was with her the entire way. She did squander a 3-0 1st set lead, and had to save several set points at 4-5 and 5-6 to reach the tiebreaker. Her 1st serve was a big mess. In the 2nd and 3rd, it improved notably. Yet it never seemed like she was in control of the festivities. It finally looked like she had when she broke Pieri for a 4-1 3rd set lead, even while missing on 5 BP's and having to fight off 2 game points, then holding to 5-1. The next 2 games quelled that notion. Mercifully for her and us, Dani won the match on her 1st MP/BP.
Pieri was a 1st serve machine (84%; 20-20 to begin the 2nd). Yet my sense was that her serve qualifies her for the Lollypop Guild. I would like to know Daniela 's stats on net points, winners and unforced errors. There should have been numerous chances for Dani to take the net against this kind of player and to go for winners.
Afterward, Sirius XM played a song I always felt was fitting for our gal: Fox on the Run by Sweet.
Best wishes for Daniela tomorrow. Hopefully, rest and some of her beloved Italian cuisine will allow her to respond. #566 in the books!

Daniela won 6-3 6-3. That's a really good win as I thought she'd be tired after yesterdays marathon but she came out and had a good strong performance. She came back from 1-3 down in the first set ton win it 6-3 and went 2-0 up in the second before Leykina fought back to 2-2 and 3-3. There were a four breaks in a row from the fourth game to the seventh and there was almost another as Leykina had 4 BPs in the eighth game before Daniela held and then broke Leykina for the win. The start of the match and the middle of the second was tough for Daniela but generally she was better. The serve is a wee bit of a worry as she had trouble on it in the second set but she was always able to make inroads against Leykina's serve.

Daniela plays Olga Saez Larra of Spain who thrashed Georgia Brescia 6-2 6-0 in the quarter-final. Saez Larra's actually had some good results on clay on the ITF circuit lately, she's won a couple of $15,000 ITF on clay in Spain in recent months and she's gotten to the quarter-finals in Santa Margherita Di Pula for the past three weeks.

Daniela's second on Court 4 after a women's doubles match, play starts at 11am.

Another really good win by Daniela. She had a good, quick win over someone that had been doing well on clay at this level recently. Daniela bossed the match and she was strong on serve and contrilled so much of the match. Maybe she could have taken more BPs than she did as she was 4/12 while she dropped serve the only time she faced a BP. Apart from that it was a strong performance by Daniela against a tricky opponent.

Next opponent is Kathinka von Deichmann of Liechtenstein who beat Karolina Muchova in three sets. Von Deichmann beat Torro-Flor this week and Torro-Flor's beaten Daniela in the past, she won a $25,000 event on clay in Bulgaria last September and she's had decent results on clay at the ITF level so she has to be respected.