Dates: 2- -26 March 2017
Venue: Santa Margherita Di Pula, Italy
Tier: ITF Women's Circuit
Prize Money: $25,000
Surface: Clay/Outdoors
Tournament Director: Alessandro Porcu

Official website: www.itftennis.com

First Appearance

Singles:
1R: [8] Daniela Hantuchova bt [Q] Olesya Pervushina (RUS) 6-3 7-6(6)
2R: Fiona Ferro (FRA) bt [8] Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-4

Daniela starts with a qualifier. The winner plays either Fiona Ferro or Irina Maria Bara in the next round.Singles Draw.png

Daniela starts against Olesya Pervushina of Russia which is actually a tough draw. Pervushina is one of the top juniors - she was no. 1 and is currently ranked 4 - and got to the semi-finals at Junior Wimbledon and Junior Roland Garros last year and she also got to the final of the European Junior Championships on clay. She actually won Santa Margherita de Pula twice last year when it was a $10,000 event and she also won the $25,000 in Leipzig on clay beating Arantxa Rus along the way. The last time Daniela played a qualifier at an ITF the result was good but the last time she played a top junior she lost. Pervushina is younger than Day but she's of comparable quality and strong on clay.

Yes!! 6-3 7-6(6)! #565!
You will never figure out this match from the numbers. For both players, service was as abysmal as the United States Post Office. (I worked there one summer. Trust me!) In the 2nd game there were 8 breaks of serve, 4 each. That includes Daniela serving for the match at 5-4 and getting broke at love. Pervushina then held to lead 6-5. Naturally, with her back to the wall, Dani forced the tiebreak by holding at love. So Daniellan.
In the tiebreak our gal raced to a 5-2 lead, then 6-3. She whiffed on all 3 match points, the first two on serve. Dani must have finally had enough, as she won the critical point on Pervushina's serve, then closed it out on her 4th MP.
I'm wondering what it's like for these young guns on the ITF with their outstanding junior records, coming to these ITF tourneys figuring to dominate their fellow teens, and they check the draw and see they're facing Daniela, with almost 1,000 matches played and all she's accomplished. Pervushina is probably whining as I write this to her coach and parent(s). IT'S NOT FAIR!!
With this triumph of the heart and the spirit and a tough opponent behind her, let us see how far Dani can take this

Daniela's the third match on Court 5 tomorrow after a men's doubles and a men's singles match. Play starts at 10 am.

I guess the draw opened up further. Ferro in straight sets, 3&4.
Daniela was crummy on serve again, while Ferro got 80% or so of 1st serves in. Dani had a 4-3 lead in the second. Her only real highlight was fighting off 12 of 17 BP and then 2 MP before succumbing. Not much to feel good about.