Daniela Hantuchova celebrates ending her five-year
title drought after her win over Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Daring Daniela: Hantuchova Repeats –
Five Years Later
Her composure was extraordinary, her serve singed the surface and she
struck her ground strokes deep and true. In a totally unanticipated
title run, Daniela Hantuchova won her first title in five years when
she upended Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-4 in the final.
While Hantuchova has shown decent form over the past six months, she
had been unable to chop down the big girls deep in tournaments. Here,
she drop kicked Francesca Schiavone, Martina Hingis, Shahar Peer, Li
Na and then '04 US Open champ Kuznetsova for the crown.
Sure, that’s not an A-plus field, but it’s a B-plus level
and Hantuchova has fallen down in C-plus draws plenty of times since
she first came to fame by shocking Martina Hingis for the '02 Pacific
Life title.
She looks a good deal stronger, moves more swiftly and at least during
this fortnight displayed a tremendous amount of confidence with her
serve and off the ground. She never choked and, believe it or not, had
no substantial lapses. Against Kuznetsova, Ms. Three-Setter didn’t
let the match go to final set, a sizeable accomplishment for the
slender and more muscular Slovak.
"There's something special about this place. I love it," the
Slovakian said. “I had exactly the same feeling like I had against
Martina in 2002. I just knew that I was gonna enjoy myself out there,
and not for one second I didn't believe in myself. I was just so confident
from the first point, and I didn't really think about the score. I just
went out there and tried to play my game and really just enjoying every
moment on the court.”
She nailed 27 winners and only committed 14 unforced errors, a fine
differential. She didn’t have too much trouble handling Kuznetsova’s
forehand and properly attacked Kuznetsova’s second serves. She
came into the match with a 2-5 lifetime record against Kuznetsova and
had quickly fallen to her two weeks ago in the semis of Doha. But on
Saturday in her beloved California desert, she whipped up a sandstorm. “Maybe
this time I was much more confident, because I had so many matches this
week already behind me already,” Hantuchova said. “Mentally,
I was just not going to let it go, and I was ready to take whatever
it takes to get through this one today.”
Plus, Hantuchova actually closed out a sizeable match again – at
Tier I tournament against a Slam champ.
“I know people been saying that I haven't won a tournament since
2002, but if I had the choice, I would much rather to pick this one
than, having to win some little tournaments,” she said. “This
is what's the most important thing for me, to be able to do well in
big tournaments like this and Grand Slams, so definitely it means a
lot to me.”
The 23-year-old will rise to No. 12 on Monday. She has
had pretensions on No. 1 since she came on tour and five years ago, when
she thrashed Hingis. But in 2007 it doesn’t appear to her to be
a pipe dream the size of Alaska’s endless stretch into the Northern
Hemisphere.
“I'm starting to feel that slowly,” she said. “I have
people around me always believing that and telling me that, but slowly
I'm starting to believe it, too. And especially a tournament like this
really proves that I can play with anyone, as long as I do the right
things and play my game. And definitely, something that it's inside
me, and I just would love to let it all out one day.”
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