I saw Daniela's doubles match today. It was pretty close at the start but then Anabel got broken at 4-3 to deuce and then Stosur/Schiavone ran away with it and they won a couple of games at the start of the second to deuce which could have been turning points. They broke Stosur when she served for the match although Anabel was then broken to lose the match after being 40-0 up. Anabel was basically being held together with bandages, tapes and plasters. They called for the coach at the end of the first set and Nicolas came on. Oh well, I guess this gives Daniela a day or two off to enjoy the city.

Daniela was practicising with Flipkens today at noon. They played a bit of a practice match and then Daniela was practicising cross court and down the line shots for both her forehand and backhand and doing a bit of work on her volleys with Nicolas. She had a chat with Clijsters for a bit then Pavlyuchenkova and Hingis turned up for their time on court, Daniela had a chat with Hingis in Slovak then Pavlyuchenkova complimented Daniela on her jewellery and they all had a chat about jewellery for a bit, Daniela likes Swarovski. Daniela & Pavlyuchenkova get along a lot better then I thought.
This time I made sure that I was in a good position for an autograph and I got one, so thank you so much for that Daniela, it really made my day

Halep is having an amazing run here, eddy, I didn't see the match as it was on Supertennis arena which I didn't have tickets for but to take out both Kuznetsova and Aga Radwanska show how well Halep is playing here. I wonder how different things could have been if Daniela had held at 4-4 in the first set against Halep because that was the decisive game of the match and Halep hadn't been secure on serve in the first set and who knows how she might have reacted to having to hold to stay in the set. Instead, Daniela got broken and Halep served it out and has basically been on fire since.

Glad you got an autograph Chungwit. The only time I tried was at Wimbledon 1st round doubles last year after Dani/Domi thrashing of Kerber/Barthel. I think Daniela was still fuming after her loss to Hampton as looked straight ahead and just walked right past us to the locker rooms. Domi stayed and took pics and autographs though.

What an amazing run Halep is having. I can see her making the semis actually if she keeps this up.

Didn't expect Dramabel to get past Stosavone.

Onto Strasbourg I guess...

The best Daniela moment was when I was watching Daniela play on court no.1 vs vania king and Daniela won the 2nd set tiebreak. There was a group of us cheering her on and when she won the 2nd set she fist pumped in our direction (we were really low down). My heart skipped a beat! The 3rd set was postponed till the next day due to darkness if u guys remember (Wimbledon 2010 I think) Druggy Strycova went on to beat Daniela in the 2nd round that year.

Thanks for that, Alex & eddy. I hope you get Daniela's autograph sometime soon, eddy.
I also got Kim Clijsters' & Martina Hingis's autographs as well. I got them to sign the order of play (so classy me) while I got Daniela to sign the front cover of my guide book seeing as Rome is her favourite city.

I gave Tsonga a hard time earlier for not signing autographs for the little kids the other day, but there were so many kids playing football with giant tennis balls with loads of autographs on them that I think he might have had the right idea. If they're going to show that much appreciation,screw them. He lost to Janowicz who did an Incredible Hulk routine and ripped his shirt off after match point. I saw the end of Janowicz's first round match and he signed a couple of autographs before he disappeared down the tunnel leaving a load of people disappointed. I don't think he's the sort of guy you'd really want to push for a signature as he seems a bit of a nutter and he's really big. I think Andrea Hlavackova would be the best bet for one as she signed for everyone after her match with Dominguez-Lino and seemed very happy to do so. Most players sign around a third to half of the autograph requests, it's all about positioning.

I also have to say that the stewardess who checked the tickets at Tribune Sud on Centrale the past few days is just so lovely and charming.

For your information: Not only is Daniela 2 wins away, she is also 2 singles and/or doubles wins away from 800 combined career wins in singles/doubles/mixed. Her conquest of Kvitova means that of her 498 singles wins, 103 of them have come against players who were in the top 10 at sometime in their careers, 33 of them while the other player was in the top 10 at that time. Dani has beaten 13 different players who at some point were #1. That list: Hingis, Sharapova, Navratilova, Safira, Jankovic, Mauresmo, Henin, Ivanovic, Azarenka, Wozniacki, Clijsters, Serena and Venus. Not bad.
Esoterica for your amusement: Daniela is 1-0 lifetime over players also named Daniela. In October of 2001, she beat Daniela Casanova, 6-1 6-4, in Zurich. In an ITF event at Poiiters , France, in October of 1999, 13 1/2 years ago, Daniela won 6-4 6-4 over......Anabel! Who could have guessed where they'd be 13 1/2 years later?

You know what, eddy, they are great stats. If you could find a tennis expert who can be totally objective, and put Daniela's record (including, of course, the mixed Slam) before that person, and it was looked over carefully and objectively, and this person for some reason didn't immediately factor in the lack of a major singles title, I do believe that conclusion would be borderline Hall of Famer. Way back when, my first favorite player was Kerry Reid. She ended up with 29 titles, including one major. For some inane reason, Kerry is not in the Hall. That steams me to no end, and I long have looked over who is in to find players who are in that don't have Kerry's credentials. The most glaring is Francoise Durr. She too has one major title. Check her overall career, and never mind whether Kerry's record is better, instead compare it to Daniela's! If our gal could somehow get one, just one, and Durr is in the Hall of Fame, Daniela would almost have to be. I sent the same stats to her on her FB page and suggested that she take a moment sometime and be proud of her accomplishments on court. And we can do the same. Yeah, there are always bummer losses. Yeah, she often scares the ---- out of us. But when you take the time to look very closely, Ms. Hantuchova has had one Heluva career! And there's still some more to come. The realist in me says a major couldn't happen. But like I've said many times before, when it comes to Daniela, Never Say Never!

That is just ridiculous. From qualies to SF. Good for her, though.

Can we have a Strasbourg thread?

Daniela's the 8th seed and has Torro-Flor in the first round, someone I've never heard of. Svitolina or qualifed in 2nd round, Seeded play is Hsieh in quarters. Pretty good draw. Big opportunity to bag points to help try and get Wimbledon seeding. But of course one match at a time.