That is really frustrating. Such a great chance to taking the first title of the year and then a bad loss once again.
I don't know what was going with Daniela when she threw away that lead in the first set. If she took that one, I'm sure Daniela would have one in straight sets.
IMO oppinion there is no excuse for that result. A player like Daniela just mustn't lose a match against a 39-year-old, also when Date-Krumm played well.

Daniela's Seoul blog on the match:

Unfortunately, I lost to Kimiko today. It was a very long and up-and-down match. I had chances, but all the credit to Kimiko, she was playing unbelievably. I thought she would get tired, because she hasn't been back for long and because of her age, but she didn't. She was going for her shots, hitting them flat and hard, and it was very tough for me to do anything. She never backed down. I had a few chances at 4-all in the third, but she was fighting so hard for every point. It just didn't work for me. I knew I had a tough match coming, but I didn't think she'd play this well! She had been away from the game for so long and I thought she'd make more mistakes, but she played a perfect match.

Despite the loss, this week has been very good preparation for Tokyo and Beijing.

Daniela is always classy and complementary in defeat as evident by her blog today. But I was hoping for some more reflection and analysis of why she lost, what she regretted doing and not doing, etc.Like I wrote on the TF, this is Daniela's typical bullsh*t. You could count on one hand how often she admitted her performance wasn't exactly stellar and said what had gone wrong. Instead she makes it look like everyone she lost to was a worldbeater. She played a perfect match, geez. Granted, I didn't see this one, but I saw other ones when Daniela played terribly but then said her opponent had played the match of her life.

I wish she told us she was angry with herself, what needs to be improved, what she did wrong. Show some fire, Daniela!
But she was perfectly content with the result saying the tournament was a good preparation for the next ones. Whether she just doesn't care about these small tourneys or doesn't believe she can improve I am not sure.

I wish she told us she was angry with herself, what needs to be improved, what she did wrong. Show some fire, Daniela!
But she was perfectly content with the result saying the tournament was a good preparation for the next ones. Whether she just doesn't care about these small tourneys or doesn't believe she can improve I am not sure.Daniela has her comfort zone,and will not stray out of it. I notice she didn't write anything about blowing a *5-1 30-0 lead. The feeling I get from the blog is that she went into the match complacent,and then couldn't raise her level when she needed to. She really needs a Krajan style coach,who will make his displeasure obvious when she starts to lapse into old habits. I'm unconvinced that Passos has done anything to improve her mental fortitude.

Let's face it, Hantuchova has NEVER been very good at self-analyzing. I kind of gave up on her after she stated in an interview, that the infamous match she lost against Ivanovic at the AO 2008 after being up 6-0, 2-0, had been a GOOD match for her. After I read that, I thought it can be one of two things: either this woman in in complete DENIAL about herself and her tennis, or she is totally DELUSIONAL. If you're a total headcase, no coach, no matter how good, can help you.

How shit.

Me sad.

I also think it would have been nice to see Daniela show some sort of disappointment at how, in particular, she lost that first set. Regardless of how well Kimiko was playing at the tail end of the first i'd like to think Daniela could convert a 5-1 lead in a set against anyone. It seems apparent to me that Daniela didn't give a stuff about this tournament. It's strange because you'd think winning a tournament would be your best preparation for proceeding ones

Argh. I really wish Daniela would give us more to cheer about some times. This loss has really irritated me. I wish she was irritated too.

Daniela's a very private person and she doesn't want to talk about her feelings and emotions in public so that's why so many of her statements are platitudes. I don't think she's ever going to bare her soul in interviews. She's also had intense scrutiny from the media in the past and I think it's once bitten, twice shy for Daniela. She's also a very polite and considerate person and I think she'd feel it was rude or disrespectful not to credit her opponent. The majority of players react to losses with stock responces of some sort anyway, usually along the lines that the opponent was the better player on the day.
I would imagine that there's a big difference between what Daniela really thinks about the match and how she'd analyse it with Passos and what she says about it publicly.

It seems that a lot of the time Daniela establishes a rhythm in a match, usually hitting groundstrokes from the baseline, and is comfortable and dictating play but whenever that rhythm is disrupted, whether by the opponent raising their level or changing their tactics, Daniela seems to have a difficulty adjusting and either raising her level or changing her own tactics. She'll often try to keep forcing groundstrokes from the baseline, but without changing the placement too much and she'll try to hit through the opponent when she could vary the pace and placement, use more slice or try serve and volley which are all strategies Daniela has the talent to use. Sometimes she gets complacent and loses concentration and lets the opponent back in or she gets tense and doesn't focus clearly. Daniela usually comes through because she is a fighter, she has a lot of talent and she figures something out eventually but she struggles with this a lot.

This tournament is a lot like Warsaw as it had a weak field and was great opportunity for Daniela to get a trophy but Daniela loses a winnable match to an opponent who is having a great week. It would be fantastic if Date Krumm could win the tournament, that would be a comeback!

Daniela's a very private person and she doesn't want to talk about her feelings and emotions in public so that's why so many of her statements are platitudes. I don't think she's ever going to bare her soul in interviews. She's also had intense scrutiny from the media in the past and I think it's once bitten, twice shy for Daniela. She's also a very polite and considerate person and I think she'd feel it was rude or disrespectful not to credit her opponent. The majority of players react to losses with stock responces of some sort anyway, usually along the lines that the opponent was the better player on the day.
I would imagine that there's a big difference between what Daniela really thinks about the match and how she'd analyse it with Passos and what she says about it publicly.


Well said. I like the fact that Daniela doesn't feel the need to bare her soul to the media just because she is a Sports Figure. As I have said before. She is a delightful, successfull, smart, young lady who is traveling the world, doing what she loves, and at her young age has earned more than most of us ever will.