Dates: June 10 - 16, 2013
Venue: Birmingham, Great Britain
Tier: International
Prize Money: $235,000
Surface: Grass/Outdoors
Tournament Director: Patrick Hughesman

Official Website: www.aegonclassic.co.uk


Last Appearance: 2012 2nd round. Lost to Melinda Czink 7-5 7-6

Singles:
1R: Daniela Hantuchova bt [Q] Casey Dellacqua (AUS) 6-1 7-6 (1)
2R: Daniela Hantuchova bt [7] Laura Robson (GBR) 6-3 6-4
3R: Daniela Hantuchova bt [12] Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4
QF: Daniela Hantuchova bt [15] Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 6-7(8) 6-4 7-6(3)
SF: Daniela Hantuchova bt Alison Riske (USA) 5-7 6-1 6-4
F: Daniela Hantuchova bt Donna Vekic (CRO) 7-6(5) 6-4

Doubles:
1R: [4] Daniela Hantuchova/Su-Wei Hsieh bt Darija Jurak/Tamarine Tanasugarn 3-6 6-1 10-2
QF: Kimiko Date-Krumm/ Arantxa Parra Santonja bt [4] Daniela Hantuchova/Su-Wie Hsieh WO

As long as Daniela gets past the qualifier she can have a good run here.

Daniela's got Casey Dellacqua in the first round. She played Dellacqua in the Australian Open in 2009 and won in two close sets. Dellacqua had a decent run in Dallas last year beating Wickmayer and she almost beat Kirilneko in Pattaya last year but Dellacqua's hardly done anything this year. She did get through qualifying and she has to be respected as an opponent but this is a match that Daniela should win easily enough as long as nothing weird happens.

Daniela's playing doubles with Su-Wei Hsieh and they're seeded fourth and start against Jurak & Tanasugarn.

So Dani's future doubles partner and the future Mrs. Ovechkin cracked the top 10 for the first time in her career. I know that she is not in a lot of people's good graces in the Forum, but full marks to Ms. Kirilenko from me. As you have seen, every so often I update some of Daniela's more impressive but lesser known stats. With Kirilenko now a top 10er, I can now add to Dani's totals of number of matches she has won over players that at one point in their careers reached that level. Our gal has beaten her 6 times. Ergo, out of the 498 singles wins, 109 of them are now against such opponents. Not bad, huh? Hoping for combined win #800 tomorrow, and more to come after that.

SHE WON A TIEBREAKER!!!!

I've got to admit that this is a relief that Daniela won and ended her losing streak and it's also nice that she won a tiebreak which will be a boost to her confidence. It is a little disappointing that the second set went to a tiebreak as she should be able to break Dellacqua but Daniela held to love both times she served to stay in the set and then ended her tiebreak hoodoo emphatically. Daniela won the first set easily and then came through a tough second set so it's a nice win and a good workout to start the grass season.

Thanks for the livescroring, Patti.

Daniela's on the precipice!! #499!
And, #800 all-around!! (499 singles, 259 doubles, and according to Wikipedia, 42 mixed.)
How about the bonus! Since we have all commented on it, let's do this altogether now. 1, 2, 3.....DANI WON A TIEBREAKER!
Jeez, I am so glad that frustrating thing is over with, and that she crushed her opponent like a grape to win it (did the same in the 1st set as well). Really odd 2nd set with no breaks, and it was a struggle, but in the end, mighty Casey struck out! A few nice points picked up as well. Now, it's on to #500!
BTW, I know nothing about this appearance Dani made 5 days ago at University of Television and Film in Munich, which obviously saw her detour from Paris to Munich on the way to Birmingham. Must have been something slightly different than her last television appearance, as she won her first match after this one! (Yeah, guilty as charged, I'm a contrarian!)

I think the serve is going to be very important tomorrow. When Daniela's served well this year, she's generally had a really good all-round performance and won the match so hopefully her shoulder is fine and she can serve well. Robson's got a powerful serve but it's also erratic and she can hit a lot of double faults. Whoever serves better will have a great chance of wining.