Venus Williams’ comeback desisted by Daniela Hantuchova – AEGON International 2011
Venus Williams’ Eastbourne comeback was halted by the world number 25 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 victory on a windy Thursday afternoon, as she was out-rallied by the Slovak in two hours and twenty three
minutes.
With this win, the Slovak has reached the semi-final of the Eastbourne, a stage she also reached in 2002 and 2004.
Although Williams had ousted Hantuchova in all ten of their prior meetings, the 28-year-old Slovak was finally able to break the losing streak in their 11th meeting, prevailing over the American in three sets.
The 33-year-old Williams started the match well and jumped to a 1-0 lead, however, her opponent managed to cut the deficit and levelled the score at 1-1, and in the third game, Hantuchova earned an early break to get a 2-1 lead.
Hantuchova later broke Venus for a second time with a vivacious backhand winner down the line to take an authoritative 5-2 lead. Serving for the set, Hantuchova defended three of her break points to nab the 1-0 lead with a brilliant
backhand winner.
After winning the opener, Hantuchova started the second set on a very competitive note and broke Williams to take a 1-0 lead. As the former world No. 1 was down at 3-4, time looked to be running out of her hands, but she fought
hard, earning a critical break with a fluttering backhand winner to level the set at 4-4.
The American pro seemed to have regained a good momentum for the remainder of the set, as she broke the Slovak and pushing the match into a deciding third set.
But Williams’ happiness was short-lived, as the Slovakian broke her at the beginning to take the final set. To her credit, Williams roared back in the fourth game, breaking the Slovak with a thumping backhand winner crosscourt,
but she gave away the break right back when she dropped the next game at love on her serve.
After reinforcing the break with a strong hold of serve, Hantuchova broke Williams for the last time to take the score to 5-2. The right-handed Slovak managed to serve out the match, celebrating her first victory over Williams
as she saw her opponent’s forehand drift out.
As a matter of fact, Williams’ serve was very weak during the match as she was broken a total of six times in three sets, while Slovak’s deep groundstrokes assisted her to keep the American off balance.
Undoubtedly the American player displayed some flashes that gave her a whopping seven Grand Slam titles and No. 1 ranking, one minute facing the first set deficit and the next minute tucking the second set away. But the last chapter
of the contest was all Hantuchova, as she won fifteen points more than Williams to take the match.
She now moves on ahead to face Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic in the semi-finals of the Eastbourne.
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