I don't understand why Halep should be such a bad matchup for Daniela...Halep has taken every single break point chance so far..5/5

4-6 1-2 with a break, Daniela's got to dig so deep now. 1-3 this ain't happening

So many games Daniela has been 40-15 and then it's deuce..and now break point FFS 1-4, how is Halep winning every single break point? 6/6 on bps...let's hope Halep chokes..

FIGHT DANIELA

Get's one of the breaks back 2-4 but can Daniela hold? Daniela is just having an awful serving day, maybe her arm is tired..

4-6 2-5 (7/7) break points taken, just HOW??

Halep d Daniela 6-4 6-2 Really sad about this and Chungwit must be really depressed.

No chance of Daniela getting in as a lucky loser as Daniela 6th lowest ranked lucky loser..I can't see 6 players withdrawing

With this loss also means that Daniela won't be seeded for Roland Garros (would have needed an amazing run in Rome anyway)

I've added Halep to my list of horrid matchups for Daniela.

Maybe at 30 years old going from one country to the next in the same week and trying to qualify is asking too much..

Is she playing anywhere next week?

Brussels??

edit: Just checked the Strasbourg website, she's playing Strasbourg.

If Daniela had beaten Halep she would have gotten Kuznetsova in the first round, Radwanska 2nd round, so was a tough draw anyway..

In doubles draw Dramabel have got Schiavone/Stosur in 1st round..these draws

This sucked. It wasn't as if Halep did anything special beyond being solid but Daniela just seemed to lack power and just seemed a bit listless. At the start of the match she was hitting quite a lot of shots long but Halep was making errors so the match was level at 2-2 with all breaks then Daniela was 4-3 up on serve. The crucial game was the 4-4 game on Daniela's serve when she got broken and then Halep served out the set and basically wasn't troubled in the second set. Daniela didn't serve well and she missed a lot of first serves and her serve didn't really have much power on it nor did she have much penetration. Halep was solid and didn't make too many errors and she had a very easy match yesterday while Daniela was pushed by Voskoboeva in the second set.
It was a late afternoon match and the temperature was a bit cooler than it had been earlier in the day so I don't know if the waiting had any impact on Daniela as all the previous matches lasted 2 hours plus. When she played yesterday she was great when it was hot but when it cooled down her level went down a bit and it was cooler than it had been earlier in the day. When Daniela has a few days to recuperate, she can play great like against Kirilenko, Stephens & Kvitova, but matches take more out of her these days and she takes longer to recover which is why she gets matches like Marrakech, Kanepi and today after great performances the day before. She has let downs.

I look on the bright side, it was better than when I went to see her in Berlin when she got thrashed by Ondraskova (sp?) who was ranked about 150 at the time after waiting for the rain to stop for 2 days. I saw her win a match so that's something ticked off the bucket list as I'd been to see her a few times before and she'd lost 1st round every time, this time she won a match and got some points. Halep also had the decency the withdraw in Dubai.

I actually saw Daniela practicising for about 5 minutes when I got there just after 1pm on the practie court next to Pietrangeli. I tried to get her autograph but again I was in the wrong place so had to dash over to where she was but she was I ended up behind some people who were just standing around getting in the fucking way but I thought they were in the line for Daniela, but they were just standing there. So Daniela's signed the autographs and she walks off briskly and I don't think she heard my "Excuse me Daniela" as she was going away. She did sign quite a lot of autographs and posed for a couple of pictures. The best chance of getting an autograph is a little kid with one of the giant tennis balls. I really should be better a staking out spots for autographs but she signed a photo for me in Eastbourne.
Best for signing autographs was Hlavackova who signed autogrpahs for everyone after her match. The worst was Tsonga who had at least 50 kids, probably a lot more, all queueing up for his autograph after his practice session with Feliciano Lopez, so he went over and signed about 5 then walked past the rest of the kids grinning away. What a cruel & heartless man, although the brazenness of it was kind of funny. Novak Djokovic had Pietrangeli for a practice match with Radek Stepanek and he didn't sign too many autographs either although if he had he'd probably have been there all day as a lot of people, mainly little kids, were wanting one.

Agnieszka Radwanska's dyed her hair blonde. She might have had blonde hair in Madrid but I didn't see any of her matches there so I don't know if she was blonde in Madrid, if she was she's still blonde. Stosur & Kvitova had a hit together as did Kirilenko and Makarova, Aga Radwanska & Sabine Lisicki on the main practice courts next to the players HQ and Robson & Cornet were the court Daniela was on. Federer was hitting with Youzhny and after that Ferrer and Nishikori had a hit.

I really should have gone to the Lazio-Sampdoria match next door at Stadio Olimpico but it was a 3pm kick off so I though it would be on the same time as Daniela's amtch plus you have to book tickets in advance, show ID like a passport or drivers licence to get in and a lot of Lazio fans are nutters, but I'd have been as well going then coming back for Daniela's match which didn't start till after 5.

Thank you for your kind words, eddy & Benji, it sucked a bit at the time but I felt that Halep was in control in the second set and Daniela wasn't doing too much so I had some acceptance she wasn't going to win. It would have been a lot worse if she'd blown it or was cheated out of it but she lost fair and square. I did shout out "Come on Daniela, it ain't over till it's over" on Halep's first matchpoint and she blasted a winner off Halep's serve, one of her very best shots all day, but she lost the next point.

Thanks for the report chungwit. Daniela's not scheduled for tomorrow,so go and enjoy the city. I can only speak for myself,but Rome is every bit as beautiful as people say(especially Daniela!)IMHO.

Many thanks for the report chungwit. I think Daniela just had an off day. To be honest, thats probably the main difference between her and the top 15, they rarely have an off day. Halep seems to like Daniela's ball..hopefully she'll beat halep one day when she's not knackered. (ie. Doha a few years ago, as Daniela had come just from pattaya.)

Anyway, not really bothered about the doubles as just want Daniela to be fit and rested for Strasbourg and of course Roland garros. I think she should aim to be seeded in time for Wimbledon. It would require a deep run somewhere but it's not out of the question.

According to another report(chungwit can verify this if he wishes),Daniela just couldn't get her CC FH to work at all today-she better get that shot to work,because as Nadal has shown,that shot is the key to success on clay. The report also said Halep was using the dropshot very effectively,as Daniela's forward movement left something to be desired.

I saw Halep's match v Kuznetsova. Halep played really well, a lot better than she did against Daniela. She was moving Kuznetsova around the court hitting cross court then down the line and getting a lot of winners or else Kuznetsova would get frustrated and try for a big shot that she'd put out. Kuznetsova either tried hitting harder or grunting louder, neither worked. She almost lost the second set to love but saved a MP before Halep served it out next game. Kuznetsova wasn't that bad, but Halep played really well.

Daniela didn't play anything like as well as she can yesterday and from a Daniela-centric perspective it was frustrating as she never showed anything like her best for more than a couple of points at a time and was mostly well below her best. Daniela's serve was poor and that really hurt her as she got less than 50% in and most of her serves were just starting the point so Halep could get a strong return in and get control of the point. As Benji mentioned, Halep won a few points from drop shots against Daniela, and Daniela looked a bit sluggish all match. She didn't move well or hit with any sort of penetration. She hit a few balls long early in the match and then it seemed like she put a lot of balls down the middle. It was as if she couldn't get out of second gear while Halep was able to cruise along efficiently enough. To be honest I don't remember a massive amount about the match as it was a bit of a blur as I was a bit too involved to really be dispassionate about it or step back and analyse it. The start was an errorfest from both players and the match slipped away from Daniela from 4-3 in the first and then she hardly won a game and the scoreboard kept ticking over for Halep. It was frustrating as much as anything. Halep did play well yesterday and she does deserve credit for the win as she won fair and square.

Daniela & Anabel are the third match on Court 2, not before 2pm. Anabel's playing against Kirilenko first on the court. I just hope it doesn't clash with Djokovic's match as he could be on at the same time. Hopefully the singles matches on court 2 are quick and the ones on Centrale are long so there isn't a clash.

Talking about Robson and Krajan, Robson gave Venus a doing today while Baghdatis lost.

Halep d Radwanska 67 61 62

Why does Daniela often play someone who plays their best tournament all year...? It's uncanny...

eg.
Tsurenko Brisbane this year
Nculescu Luxembourg last year
Paszek Eastbourne last year
Wozniak Montreal last year
Halep Doha last year