Dates: September 12-18, 2011
Venue: Quebec City, Canada
Tier: International
Prize Money: $220,000
Surface: Carpet/Indoors
Tournament Director: Jacques Herisset

Official Website: www.challengebell.com

2010 Performance: Did not play.
Last Appearance: 2004 1st round. Lost to Melanie Gloria 6-3 2-6 6-1

Singles:
1R: [1] Daniela Hantuchova bt Alja Tomljanovic (CRO) 6-0 2-6 6-4
2R: [1] Daniela Hantuchova bt Melinda Czink (HUN) 6-7(4) 6-4 6-3
QF: Marina Erakovic (NZL) bt [1] Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 6-4

It's a pretty good draw and Daniela has a great chance of doing well here. A lot will depend on how fit and motivated Daniela is because she's been playing a lot of matches recently and she's had injury issues lately. The Asian tournaments will have pretty much all of the top players there and Linz has a strong field so this is a very good opportunity for Daniela.

Tomljanovic is a young player who's mainly played the ITF circuit and qualifying so Daniela should beat her easily enough and build momentum for the rest of the tournament, but she has to focus on getting past the first round.

the runner up gets $19,000. The same amount of money for a US Open 1st round exit.

Order Of Play Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Court Bell (from 11.00hrs)
1. Jill Craybas vs. Lucie Safarova
2. Daniela Hantuchova vs. Ajla Tomljanovic (NB 12.30hrs)
3. Tamira Paszek vs. Ashley Weinhold
4. Elena Bovina vs. Sofia Arvidsson
5. Dabrowski/Dubois vs. Lee-Waters/Moulton-Levy
6. Gail Brodsky vs. Aleksandra Wozniak (NB 19.00hrs)
7. Varvara Lepchenko vs. Eugénie Bouchard

just joined the stream

and Ustream
5-4 in the 3rd set for DH

God, that was tense. I saw the match from 4-0 in the first and Daniela went through the first set fairly easily as Tomljanovic was making loads of errors and Daniela was teeing off. Daniela played a sloppy service game when she served at the start of the second set putting a few fairly easy shots long and serving a double fault and that got Tomljanovic going and she started to play a lot better, reducing her errors while she started to hit more winners and Tomljanovic had a powerful shot so she was able to dictate a few rallies when she got the first strike in while Daniela was making errors.

Daniela dug in in the third, got more balls in play hit more winners and put a bit of pressure on Tomljanovic who made some errors but also made some nice shots. Tomljanovic played well in the last two sets and she did hit some very good shots, especially when she came from 0-40 down to hold at 4-3 in the third. It's good that Daniela was able to come through a battle against a tough opponent without playing her best tennis, she held her nerve and was able to get the job done. Hopefully with the first round out of the way, Daniela can relax a bit and play like she was earlier in the season.

It was crucial that Daniela broke back right away after she dropped serve at the start of the third because it would have been very difficult if Tomljanovic had gone 2-0 up. Fortunately, Daniela was never behind after the first game and had the advantage of serving first.

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Hello again everyone

I had my first match of the tournament today, against a talented young girl, Ajla Tomljanovic. I felt I did everything right in the first set. I lost serve in the beginning of the second set - after that she started so serve really well and go for her shots. I was down 5-2 in no time and lost the second set, but I'm glad about the way I kept fighting for it. I was playing much better in the third - even though I was down a break early in the third set, I felt confident I could still turn it around. I waited for my chances and took them when they came.

It was a long match but I feel very good. We've been working hard physically the last few weeks, and I never have problems in matches like this. Especially indoors, the rallies aren't very long. I worked out afterwards - the facility here is great, they have a great gym. I'm just trying to be in the best shape possible.

Tomorrow I have a day off. I'm going to hit in the morning and do some training, working on things I wasn't happy with today... then I'll have a nice lunch, maybe relax in the afternoon, and then I have a sponsor visit at 6pm. Then dinner...

The food here is incredible. There are great coffee places and there's this great restaurant we've gone to twice in a row now... it's called Savini. It's very close to the hotel. There's live music as well. This area is fantastic...

Thank you for your questions... keep them coming

Talk to you again tomorrow!

Love, Dani




"She's a talented girl - I was expecting a tough match and was surprised how easy the first set went," said Hantuchova. "Then I lost my serve right away in the second, and she started to play more freely. But it's good to have a tough match at the beginning of a tournament… a little wake-up call. I'm here to do well, so I know I'll have to play very well."