Daniela Hantuchova blissful at a successful title defence – Tennis News
Slovak tennis and beauty icon, Daniela Hantuchova, is ecstatic at a successful title defence in Pattaya City, Thailand. On Sunday, she defeated the Russian diva, Maria Kirilenko, in a taxing three-setter. It was the fifth
Women Tennis Association (WTA) title of her professional career. She won the battle with final scores of 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-3.
Screening her delight on a successful title defence, she stated, “It feels great. I thought it was an incredible match. Maria was playing really well and we were fighting for every single point.” She currently holds the world
number 20th spot and her Russian opponent was just five ranks below her. It was expected to be a terrific encounters between the two most exciting and glamorous tennis icons. Mammoth crowd turned out at the arena to witness both divas
in action.
It was not an easy task for the third seeded Slovak who had to go through several ups and down during the match. Talking about the match, she stated, “Even though I lost the first set very closely I just kept going and didn't
really look back and always just tried to focus on the next point. That was the key.”
Hantuchova is one of the most talented players in the women tennis. She started the 2012 WTA season at the Brisbane and ousted several superior ranked players like Dominika Cibulkova, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters before
falling to Kaia Kanepi in the final of the tournament. She carried her splendid form in the Apia Sydney International before the second ranked Czech, Petra Kvitova, dumped her in the quarter-finals.
She reached the third round of Australian Open as well before the defending champion, Kim Clijsters, knocked her out in straight sets. A couple of wins in the singles rubbers for the Slovak helped her country to oust the
French squad in the first round tie of Federation Cup.
The Slovak started her title defence against the wildcard local entrant, Nungnadda Wannasuk, and trampled Urszula Radwanska and Vania King, Su-Wei Hsieh on her way to the final. It has been a fairly good start to the new
season for the Slovak who will be looking to capitalize on recent performances and perform well in the Qatar Ladies Open.
There is no gap between the both tournaments as the tournament starts from 13th of February in Doha. So, she will directly be travelling to Middle-East for another title chase. It will be interesting
to see how far she can go before someone halts her unbeaten run.
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