Dates: July 22 - 28, 2013
Venue: Stanford, USA
Tier: Premier
Prize Money: $795,707
Surface: Hard/Outdoors
Tournament Director: Kim Hall Uliasz

Official Website: www.bankofthewestclassic.com

Last Appearance: 2011 2nd round. Lost to Maria Sharapova 6-2 2-6 6-4

Singles:
1R: Daniela Hantuchova bt Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 6-2 4-6 6-0
2R: Urszula Radwanska (POL) bt Daniela Hantuchova 7-6(3) 7-6(3)

Doubles:
1R: [3] Daniela Hantuchova/Lisa Raymond bt Mallory Burdette/Sorana Cirstea 2-6 6-3 10-8
2R: [3] Daniela Hantuchova/Lisa Raymond bt Asia Muhammed/Allie Will 6-3 5-7 14-12
SF: [1] Racquel Kops-Jones/Abigail Spears bt [3] Daniela Hantuchova/Lisa Raymond 7-5 6-2

It's not the strongest field for a Premier event and it's really more like an International field, especially with the withdrawals. Daniela can beat pretty much any of the players there but anyone there has to be respected and she's lost to a few of the players there so she can't take anything for granted. It would have been nice to have been seeded but she wasn't seeded at Birmingham.
It's a good opportunity for Daniela to go on a run, pick up points and go up the rankings some more. So much will depend on what her form, fitness and confidence is like.

Singles draw:MDS .jpg

Daniela starts with Yanina Wickmayer in the first round. That's pretty decent as Daniela's always beaten Wickmayer and Wickmayer's been going down the rankings. The second round would be against Urszula Radwanska or Christina McHale and the likely quarter-final opponent would be Dominika Cibulkova. Daniela can do well here given her record against Wickmayer and Cibulkova but both Radwanska & McHale have beaten Daniela in their last matches and she has to get past Wickmayer first. Hopefully, Daniela's rested and refreshed and fit and she can put in a good run here.

Daniela's playing doubles with Lisa Raymond, they're the third seeds and they start against Mallory Burdette and Francesca Schiavone.

Daniela's the third match on Stadium court, play starts at 11am.

Daniela loves to tell about how she'll be superstitious and eat the same meal at the same place every day if she's doing well in a tourney. So do this week's meals each finish with a bagel?
I was hoping she'd whale some tail today, and in the end she did, but 3 weeks without a match is nowhere near enough to forget how most every match must include a scare or two. It's OK; we celebrate Dani's wins no matter how they're achieved, and she clearly played well at times today. Personally, I kind of want to see Daniela play McHale next. The loss to her in Charleston 2 years ago still sticks in my craw, and I will be joyous if Dani avenges that.

A good win in the end by Daniela. She probably should have won it in straight sets and if she'd held at 3-2 she likely would have. Also, she should have held at 4-5 in the second when she was 40-0. That's the bad stuff but Daniela showed her resilience by raising her level and winning the third set to love.


Daniela Hantuchova beat Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 4-6, 6-0, in their first-round match.

"I've played for a long time but not for myself until now," Hantuchova said. "I'm very relaxed, playing for myself and enjoying the pressure. I can see the results on the court."

Even a first-round loss at Wimbledon could not dampen her spirits, acknowledging Klara Zakopalova just played better.

"I had a good two weeks of fitness and training," Hantuchova said. "I felt I played pretty well."

The 46th-ranked Hantuchova, once ranked as high as No. 5, played to the full three sets for the 269th time since 2000.

"Why make it easy when I can make it complicated," she said. "Physically she's very strong and I always enjoy the challenge from her side of the court."



Hantuchova blitzes Wickmayer in third set

By john reid
Daily News Staff Writer
Posted: 07/23/2013 09:17:24 PM PDT
Updated: 07/23/2013 11:26:05 PM PDT

Daniela Hantuchova has won nearly $9 million in prize money during her illustrious career, which peaked in 2003. The Slovakia native has a good chance to add to that pile of cash after a 6-2, 4-6, 6-0 victory over Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium on Tuesday at the Bank of the West Classic at Stanford.
Wickmayer did a good job of forcing a third set, making the unseeded Hantuchova work for the win. Wickmayer had an edge in some vital statistical categories, such as six serving aces to Hantuchova's two. Seven double-faults by Wickmayer to Hantuchova's four didn't help matters.
"I kept my calm and kept going for my shots," the 5-foot-11 Hantuchova said. "She played a good match. It was a difficult first round. I had to play well to win."
Hantuchova, who won the Aegon Classic in Birmingham, England, earlier this year, didn't mind being pushed. It was the fifth time she has defeated Wickmayer in her career.
"I liked to be challenged like that," Hantuchova said. "She's very strong. I like to bring my quickness level into the match. I enjoy playing against her because she moves well and hits the ball very hard. She serves extremely well."
Hantuchova was in the news recently when Hall of Famer Martina Hingis announced she will play doubles with Hantuchova at the Southern California Open. The tournament is held from Saturday through Aug. 4. Hingis retired for a second time in 2007.
"We talked a couple of months ago," the 30-year-old Hantuchova said. "The competitiveness is always in her. We always had so much fun playing together. I respect her game. She was my idol growing up. I said, 'Why don't we give it a try? We have nothing to lose.' "



HANTUCHOVA WINS, VANDEWEGHE TOO
Daniela Hantuchova maintained her mastery against Yanina Wickmayer at the Bank Of The West Classic. She will be Martina Hingis' partner in her doubles comeback - what are her thoughts on that?
Published July 23, 2013 12:04

STANFORD, CA, USA - Daniela Hantuchova maintained her mastery against Yanina Wickmayer, beating the Belgian for the sixth time in six meetings to reach the second round in Stanford.

Having won all five of their previous meetings, four of them in straight sets, Hantuchova came out swinging again, storming out to a 62 31 lead. Wickmayer didn't give in, winning five of the next six games for the second set, but Hantuchova rolled in a 24-minute third set to close it out, 62 46 60.

"Overall I thought I played a very solid match today," Hantuchova said afterwards. "Especially in the third set, I felt like I kept calm and kept going for my shots. I knew it was going to be a difficult first round match, so I knew I had to be prepared for it and that I had to play really well to win against her."

Why does Hantuchova have so much success against such a high quality player - a former No.12?

"I just like to be challenged like that," Hantuchova said. "I know she's very strong, she moves well and hits the ball very hard, and serves extremely well sometimes. So that's where I can bring my fitness level into the match. I always enjoy playing her. I like the challenge from her side of the court."

Next week will be a big week for Hantuchova - former World No.1 Martina Hingis announced her comeback in doubles recently, beginning next week in Carlsbad, and her partner? Hantuchova.

"We talked a couple of months ago," Hantuchova said. "She still enjoys the game so much, and the competitiveness has always been in her, so I was like, 'Why don't we play? We always enjoyed it so much and had so much fun.' I respect her game incredibly and she was always my idol growing up. So I was like, 'Why don't we give it a try? We have nothing to lose. We can just have fun on the court.'

"She thought about it for a while, and here we are."

Will it be tough for Hingis, after almost six years in retirement, to get back in the swing of things?

"Once you are a champion inside, you're never going to lose that," Hantuchova commented. "She understands the game like no other. It'll obviously be really interesting to see. Playing a competitive match will be totally different, and I can't wait to play with her and see how it's going to be out there."



"Against Wickmayer I played a very good game, especially in the third set. Though the second act I've lost five games in a row, I did not panic, I went for strikes and active game has brought me success," said Hantuchova for official challenger.

The winner of the June WTA tournament in Birmingham against the former world while twelve hundred percent balance. "Matches against Wickmayer for me are always a challenge. It is very strong, well after moving their villages into balls and strikes with great vigor. Moreover, if it is based on the administration, It is very difficult for her. Against Yani board games, however, many mutual matches I won through caps and " Hantuchova said.
@ google translate


Thanks for the livescores, Artur.

"Why make it easy when I can make it complicated"

Daniela

Should be her motto.