Hantuchova, Clijsters to meet in fourth round - 達妮埃拉·漢圖霍娃 Hantuchova

By Andrew Bogusch
Saturday, June 3, 2006

Kim Clijsters and Daniela Hantuchova set up a round of 16 encounter with
strenuous victories Saturday on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Clijsters, seeded second in Paris, opened her match with Spaniard Anabel
Medina Garrigues by losing three of the first four games, but recovered for a
6-3 6-4 victory. Hantuchova preceded that with a 6-3 3-6 10-8, two-hour,
35-minute decision over the 21st seed, Nathalie Dechy.

"I just think I was a little bit surprised, I think, with the heavy balls
that she was hitting. They were really deep," Clijsters said about her slow
start. "Just kind of looking for my position a little bit out there on the
court.

"You know, I think that's where my movement wasn't quite there yet. So I just
it was a matter of adjusting a little bit to different style of games."

While she adjusted, Clijsters posted an uncharacteristic number of unforced
errors - 17 in the opening set, 44 for the match.

"Against a player like that, I mean, you have to take risks as well," is how
Clijsters explained her aggressive play. "If you're just gonna keep rallying
with them and try to keep the unforced errors down, you know, that's their
favorite game to play, you know. That's what they love to do."

The two-time runner-up here managed to find to find her range enough to run
off seven straight games to win the first set and lead 2-0 in the second.

Medina Garrigues, the highest rank Spanish woman on tour, won the next two
games, though, to level the set. Clijsters broke in the seventh game to
retake control of the set. She held on for the win, sidestepping two break
points while serving at 5-4.

Clijsters' victory took 79 minutes and is her eighth win in nine matches on
European clay this spring. And in Hantuchova, she gets an opponent whom she
has handled well to say the least.

The Belgian is 7-0 all-time against the lanky Slovak, dropping just one set
in those matches. That came in their second meeting, four years ago in
Filderstadt.

"That's going to be a completely different match than the one I had today.
Daniela is a player that if you play into her racquet, she's one of the
cleanest ball hitters I think out there," Clijsters said.

"She had a tough match today, very close one. But, you know, I'm looking
forward to play her tomorrow."

For the moment, Hantuchova can celebrate her second trip to the round of 16
in six trips to Paris.

"I'm just so, so happy to fight my way through this match," Hantuchova said.
"At the end, I think it was just about, you know, trying to be positive and
fight for every single point. It was a great match, especially in the third
set."

Hantuchova served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 in that final set, but found
herself down 6-7 after Dechy rallied with help from a vociferous Parisian
crowd. The Slovak made her own comeback, though.

Dechy never even sniffed a match point in the fourteenth game as Hantuchova
broke to 7-all. After three consecutive holds, Hantuchova put an end to
things with a quality return game, highlighted by a backhand half-volley
winner that nullified a solid forehand passing attempt from Dechy. The match
ended on a Dechy cross-court forehand that just missed the sideline.

"She managed very well, and she played extremely well." Dechy said about
Hantuchova's recovery from 6-7. "There was a bit of wind, and she had the
wind in her favor. She decided to play extremely relaxed, and it worked. In
fact, it is exactly what I did when I came back into the match myself."

Hantuchova started the match well, striking seven winners along the way to a
quick 3-0 lead. Dechy mounted a small push late in the opening set, but
Hantuchova snuffed it out by serving out at love.

In the second, it was Dechy dictating play. Her retrieving skills were
finally on display as Hantuchova struggled to find holes to hit through. The
27-year-old won the first four games of the set, and could have forced the
third sooner had she prevented Hantuchova from breaking in the fifth or
converted a set point in the eighth game.

"She's a very experienced player, she knows the game very well, plus she had
the support of her home crowd," Hantuchova said of Dechy. "It was always
going to be a tough match for me. That's why it makes it even more special
for me, this win."


兩個是好朋友^^

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