Daniela Hantuchová

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**Daniela Hantuchová**
Daniela Hantuchová in 2002
Country	Slovakia
Residence	Monte Carlo, Monaco
Date of birth	April 23, 1983 (age 23)
Place of birth	Poprad, Slovakia
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Turned Pro	May 1999
Plays	Right; Two-handed backhand
Career Prize Money	$4,700,007
Singles
Career record:	283-170
Career titles:	2 WTA, 3 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 5 (January 27, 2003)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open	QF (2003)
French Open	4r (2002,2006)
Wimbledon	QF (2002)
U.S. Open	QF (2002)
Doubles
Career record:	164-117
Career titles:	8 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking:	No. 5 (August 26, 2002)
Infobox last updated on: March 20, 2007.

Daniela Hantuchová (born April 23, 1983 in Poprad, Slovakia ( pronounced: HAN-too-koh-vuh ) is a Slovak professional tennis player. The Englishman Nigel Sears has twice been her coach. She is currently working with a number of coaches who work under the Sanchez-Casal Academy. Her WTA Tour mentor in the Partners for Success program was Martina Navratilova, who was her doubles partner for a brief period in early 2005. As of March 19, 2007, Hantuchova ranks at No. 12 in singles.

[edit] Career

[edit] Overall

Hantuchová has won two WTA singles tournaments in her career, the first in 2002 at the Tier I Pacific Life Open, defeating Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4 in the final, and in 2007 at the same tournament, defeating Hingis again in the fourth round and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final 6-3 6-4 ending a 5-year title drought.

She has reached four other finals in her career—(Filderstadt 2002 losing to Kim Clijsters, Eastbourne 2004 losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, Los Angeles 2005 where she lost to Clijsters again, and 2006 Zurich Open, losing to Maria Sharapova).

[edit] 2002

2002 was Hantuchova's breakout season, in which she won her first tournament at the prestigious Indian Wells event, defeating Justine Henin in the fourth round 6-3 6-3 and Martina Hingis in the final 6-3 6-4. Later on that year, Hantuchova also reached the final in Filderstadt, losing to Kim Clijsters 4-6 6-3 6-4, the only set Hantuchova took from Clijsters in their nine meetings.

Elsewhere in the year, she made the semifinals in Linz, New Haven, Montreal, and Eastbourne. Hantuchova also made her first two Slam quarterfinals, defeating Jelena Dokic 6-4 7-5 in the fourth round at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, and defeated Justine Henin again in the fourth round at the US Open 6-1 3-6 7-6(4), losing to eventual champion Serena Williams again in the quarterfinals.

Hantuchova went 6-10 against top 10 players; 5-1 in singles Fed Cup play, helping lead Slovakia to their first Fed Cup victory against Spain in the final; 10-6 on indoor carpet, 6-2 on grass, 11-7 on clay, and 29-10 on hardcourts.

[edit] 2003

Daniela Hantuchová at Roland Garros 2006.

Hantuchova started 2003 solidly, reaching the quarterfinals at her first three events in Sydney, losing to Lindsay Davenport 6-4 3-6 7-6(3), Venus Williams 6-4 6-3 at the Australian Open (her third Slam quarterfinal in a row), and Elena Dementieva in Paris 7-5 6-3. Hantuchova reached her first semifinal of the year at her fourth event in Antwerp, losing to Williams again, 6-1 6-4. By then, Hantuchova's ranking was at an all-time high, cracking the top five at No. 5.

Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchova made it to the fourth round in Indian Wells, losing to Amanda Coetzer 6-4 6-4. Despite a first round loss to Alicia Molik in Miami, Hantuchova rebounded in the Tier I Charleston event, making her fifth quarterfinal in seven events, losing to Ashley Harkleroad 6-2 6-1. She made her sixth quarterfinal at her next event in Amelia Island, losing to eventual champion Dementieva 6-0 6-1.

Hantuchova went undefeated in first round Fed Cup play against Germany, defeating both of her opponents. Following Fed Cup, Hantuchova again made it to the quarterfinals for the seventh time of the year at the Tier I Berlin tournament, losing to Kim Clijsters 6-0 6-3.

At the French Open, Hantuchova lost in the second round in a marathon match to Harkleroad again 7-6(2) 4-6 9-7. Following the match, Hantuchova's extremely thin physique was noticed for the first time publicly and some wondered about Hantuchova's health.

Kicking off the grass season in Eastbourne, Hantuchova lost in the quarterfinals to Conchita Martinez, but more famously Hantuchova lost in the second round of Wimbledon to Shinobu Asagoe 0-6 6-4 12-10, with Hantuchova breaking down crying during the latter stages of the match. The media frenzy regarding her weight, plus her breakdown during the match, along with personal problems of her parent's divorce and feeling the pressure of success at just 19 years old, later led people to theorize this was the eventual fall of Hantuchova from the top of women's tennis.

Following Wimbledon, Hantuchova went 6-8 for the rest of the year, 0-4 against top 10 players, 28-23 overall going 4-3 on indoor carpet, 10-6 on clay, 2-2 on grass, 12-12 on hardcourts; and fell to No. 17 in the world.

[edit] 2004

2004 proved to be largely a continuation of Hantuchova's poor second half of '03 with all the same struggles, reaching just three quarterfinals, her first at the first Tier I event in Tokyo until halfway through the season. At Tokyo, however, she garnered her thus far only victory over Maria Sharapova in the second round, falling to Davenport 6-2 6-2 in the quarters. The tournament that saved her from a completely disastrous 2004 was Eastbourne, in which she defeated Ai Sugiyama in the quarterfinals 6-1 7-6(7) and Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals 4-6 6-4 6-4 before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third final of her career, 2-6 7-6(2) 6-4. However, Hantuchova was serving for the championship, up 6-2 6-5, but got broken.

Hantuchova was ranked No. 54 as she entered Eastbourne, but found herself ranked No. 38 as she went into Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Sharapova in the third round 6-3 6-1. Hantuchova would make one more quarterfinal at New Haven, losing to Lisa Raymond 6-4 6-3. At the US Open one week later, Hantuchova lost 7-6 in the third to Patty Schnyder in the third round.

Hantuchova finished the year ranked No. 31, with a 24-24 win-loss ratio going 3-3 on indoor carpet, 6-3 on grass, 2-5 on clay, and 13-13 on hardcourts. She finished 1-4 against top 10 players overall, the sole victory over Mauresmo.

[edit] 2005

Hantuchova reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Dementieva in a tight three-setter, 7-5 5-7 6-4. Following that, she made her first quarterfinal of the year in Tokyo for the second straight year, losing to Kuznetsova 7-6(4) 7-6(4). At her next event she reached the semifinals in Doha, losing to Sharapova 6-2 6-4. Then she made another quarterfinal at her next tournament in Dubai, losing to Serena Williams 6-4 6-3; at Dubai also, in the first round, she garnered her 10th top 10 victory over No. 8 Alicia Molik 7-6(8) 6-2.

Hantuchova made the third round at the French and Wimbledon, losing to Clijsters 6-4 6-2 in Paris and eventual champion Venus Williams 7-5 6-3 in England.

Hantuchova had a successful US Open series run, where she reached the semifinals in Cincinnati, getting upset by No. 74 Akiko Morigami 6-4 6-4. After Cincinnati, in Stanford, Hantuchova lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6-3 6-1. And after a second round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchova reached her fourth final in Los Angeles, getting a walkover in the quarterfinals over Sharapova, and got revenge against Dementieva in the semifinals, defeating her 6-3 6-4 (Hantuchova stands 2-0 against Dementieva in semifinals). In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchova 6-4 6-1. For the third time at the event, Hantuchova made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport 6-2 7-6(5).

Hantuchova would lose to eventual quarterfinalist Venus Williams in the third round at the US Open.

In Luxembourg, Hantuchova made her eighth quarterfinal of the season, losing to Nathalie Dechy 6-1 6-4. In Filderstadt the following week, Hantuchova made the semifinals, her third of the year, defeating No. 10 Patty Schnyder in the second round and Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals; she lost to Davenport in the semifinals. And at the final Tier I event of the year, Hantuchova pushed Davenport to three sets in Zurich before losing 3-6 7-5 6-2. And in her final event of the year, in Linz, Hantuchova made her 10th quarterfinal, losing to Schnyder 6-2 6-1.

Hantuchova finished 2005 with a 3-10 record against the top 10, 37-25 overall record with 2-1 on indoor carpet, 3-4 on clay, 2-3 on grass, 30-17 on hardcourts, reaching 10 quarterfinals, three semifinals, and one final.

[edit] 2006

In 2006, Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of Sydney with a win over top 10 player Patty Schnyder and the semifinals of Auckland, as well as shocking the tennis world at the Australian Open with her 6-1, 7-6 (5) victory over defending champion and seven-time Grand Slam tournament champion Serena Williams, before losing to 4th-seeded Maria Sharapova in straight sets.

Daniela Hantuchová at the Zurich Open 2006

Since then, she has been unable to find a consistent level of form, though she reached the fourth-round at the Australian Open, French Open, and Wimbledon. However, her fourth-round streak ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams at the second round of the US Open. Hantuchová showed what she is capable of producing the week before Stuttgart beating an inform Tatiana Golovin in straight sets before losing out to Dinara Safina. The following week Hantuchová reached the quarterfinals of Stuttgart with an easy victory over top 10 player Dinara Safina in the 2nd round, the same player to whom she had lost convincingly the previous week. This was her first top 10 defeat since January. In October 2006, Hantuchová reached the final of the Zurich Open. In the first round, she upset 6th seed Patty Schnyder. In the second round, she defeated her doubles parter Ai Sugiyama. Daniela was then scheduled to play World No.1 Amelie Mauresmo in the quarter finals. However, Mauresmo withdrew due to a right shoulder injury. In the semi finals, Daniela upset World No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-2 to reach the final of the Tier I event. In the final, Daniela lost in a tight 3 setter to 2nd seed Maria Sharapova. Sharapova winning 6-1 4-6 6-3. The weeks on the tour leading up to this tournament were the culmination of Hantuchová's turn up in form which propelled her back into the worlds top 20 after a brief period outside the top group. But the injury she suffered to her right rib after Mary Pierce hit a shot at her in doubles caused her undoubtedly her most serious injury of her career and also to retire in her match against Vesnina in Linz.

[edit] 2007

Hantuchova's first event of 2007 was in Auckland, New Zealand, where she lost in the second round to Virginie Razzano 6-1 7-5 after defeating countrywoman Dominika Cibulkova 6-1 3-6 6-2. For the rest of her Australian summer stretch, she lost to Nicole Vaidisova in the first round of the Sydney tournament, and reached her second consecutive Australian Open fourth round, where she defeated Ashley Harkleroad in the third round 6-7(6) 7-5 6-3, and lost to Kim Clijsters 6-1 7-5.

Hantuchova was then upset in the first round of the first Tier I event of 2007, losing to Roberta Vinci 6-4 6-4. At her next two events in Dubai and Doha she reached her first two quarterfinals of the year and first semifinal of the year. In Dubai, she came from a set down in the second round against Maria Kirilenko 2-6 6-4 7-6(4) and lost a tight match against Amelie Mauresmo 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the quarterfinals. In Doha, she reached the semifinals, defeating Martina Hingis in the quarterfinal for the second time in four matches 1-6 6-4 6-4, coming back from 1-6 1-4 down. She lost her semifinal match against Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-2.

In her seventh event of the year, Hantuchova won just her second title at the same tournament she had won five years prior in Indian Wells, California. She defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-1 2-6 6-2, Francesca Schiavone 6-2 7-6(3), Martina Hingis 6-4 6-3, Shahar Peer 6-2 5-7 7-6(5), Li Na 7-5 4-6 6-1, and Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-4.

She was upsetted by in-form players Zvonereva and Bammer at Miami and Amelia Island respectively.

Hantuchova's win-loss record for 2007 currently stands at 18-8 and stands 3-4 versus top 10 players with two victories over Hingis and one against Kuznetsova.

[edit] Doubles

Her biggest successes have so far come in mixed doubles. In this event, she won the 2001 Wimbledon with Leoš Friedl, the 2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, the 2005 Roland Garros with Fabrice Santoro, and 2005 US Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up in the 2002 Wimbledon with Ullyett, and reached the semi-finals at the French Open in 2004 with Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 US Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik & Nenad Zimonjic in the final in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. This makes her only the 4th women in tennis history (behind Court, King and Navratilova) to complete a career Gland Slam in mixed doubles. In Perth, Western Australia also in 2005, Hantuchová won the Hopman Cup with Dominik Hrbatý.

Hantuchová's other achievements include winning eight doubles titles (as of May 21 2006). Hantuchová currently plays doubles with Ai Sugiyama, with some fans affectionately referring to the team as 'Hantuyama'. They have won 3 titles together in Rome, Doha, and Birmingham as well as reaching the final at Roland Garros in 2006. 'Hantuyama' won 'Fans favorite doubles team 2005' at the Stars for Stars in Miami.

In early 2007, the partnership between Sugiyama and herself had reportedly ended after Tokyo though the pair continued playing at Dubai and Doha.

[edit] Grand Slam mixed doubles finals (5)

[edit] Wins (4)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2001	Wimbledon	Leos Friedl	Mike Bryan Liezel Huber	4-6 6-3 6-2
2002	Australian Open	Kevin Ullyett	Gastón Etlis Paola Suárez	6-3 6-2
2005	French Open	Fabrice Santoro	Leander Paes Martina Navratilova	3-6 6-3 6-2
2005	US Open	Mahesh Bhupathi	Nenad Zimonjić Katarina Srebotnik	6-4 6-2

[edit] Runner-up (1)

Year	Championship	Partner	Opponent in Final	Score in Final
2002	Wimbledon	Kevin Ullyett	Elena Likhovtseva Mahesh Bhupathi	2-6 6-1 1-6

[edit] WTA Tour titles (10)

[edit] Singles (2)

Legend
Grand Slam (0)
WTA Championships (0)
Tier I (2)
Tier II (0)
Tier III (0)
Tier IV (0)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	March 16, 2002	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Martina Hingis	6-3 6-4
2.	March 17, 2007	Indian Wells, USA	Hard	Svetlana Kuznetsova	6-3 6-4

[edit] Singles runner-ups (4)

2002: Filderstadt (lost to Kim Clijsters) 4-6 6-3 6-4
2004: Eastbourne (lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova) 2-6 7-6² 6-4
2005: Los Angeles (lost to Kim Clijsters) 6-4 6-1
2006: Zürich (lost to Maria Sharapova) 6-1 4-6 6-3

[edit] Doubles (8)

Legend (Doubles)

Grand Slam (0)

WTA Championships (0)

Tier I (1)

Tier II (4)

Tier III (2)

Tier IV(1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	October 29, 2000	Bratislava, Slovak Republic	Hard Indoors	Karina Habšudová	Petra Mandula Patricia Wartusch	walkover
2.	October 28, 2001	Luxembourg, Luxembourg	Hard Indoors	Elena Bovina	Bianka Lamade Patty Schnyder	6-3 6-3
3.	April 14, 2002	Amelia Island, USA	Clay	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Maria Emilia Salerni Åsa Svensson	6-4 6-2
4.	August 24, 2002	New Haven, USA	Hard	Arantxa Sánchez Vicario	Tathiana Garbin Janette Husárová	6-3 1-6 7-5
5.	June 12, 2005	Birmingham, England	Grass	Ai Sugiyama	Eleni Daniilidou Jennifer Russell	6-2 6-3
6.	October 9, 2005	Filderstadt, Germany	Hard Indoors	Anastasia Myskina	Kveta Peschke Francesca Schiavone	6-0 3-6 7-5
7.	March 4, 2006	Doha, Qatar	Hard	Ai Sugiyama	Ting Li Tian Tian Sun	6-4 6-4
8.	May 21, 2006	Rome, Italy	Clay	Ai Sugiyama	Kveta Peschke Francesca Schiavone	3-6 6-3 6-1

[edit] ITF Titles (4)

[edit] Singles (3)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	May 23, 1999	Jackson, USA	Clay	Milagros Sequera	6-2 6-1
2.	September 12, 1999	Fano, Italy	Clay	Flora Perfetti	6-4 6-7 6-2
3.	August 20, 2000	Bronx, USA	Hard	Jing-Qian Yi	6-4 6-4

[edit] Doubles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	July 11, 1999	Civitanova, Italy	Clay	Eva Dyrberg	Rosa Maria Andres Rodriguez Conchita Martínez Granados	7-6 4-6 6-3

[edit] Singles performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the Indian Wells tournament, which ended on March 17, 2007.

Tournament	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	Career Win-Loss
Australian Open	Q	1R	3R	QF	2R	3R	4R	4R	15-7
French Open	A	2R	4R	2R	1R	3R	4R		10-6
Wimbledon	Q	2R	QF	2R	3R	3R	4R		12-6
U.S. Open	Q	1R	QF	3R	3R	3R	2R		11-6
Grand Slam Win-Loss	0-0	2-4	13-4	8-4	4-4	8-4	10-4	3-1	48-25
Tokyo	A	A	A	A	QF	QF	2R	1R	5-4
Indian Wells	A	1R	W	4R	2R	3R	A	W	15-4
Miami	1R	1R	2R	2R	3R	2R	3R		2-7
Charleston	A	A	2R	QF	A	A	A		3-2
Berlin	A	Q	QF	QF	1R	1R	3R		6-5
Rome	A	3R	1R	3R	1R	1R	1R		3-6
San Diego	A	A	2R	3R	2R	2R	3R		5-5
Montreal/Toronto	A	2R	SF	3R	2R	1R	3R		8-6
Moscow	A	A	A	A	1R	A	A		0-1
Zurich	A	QF	QF	1R	2R	2R	F		9-6
WTA Tour Championships	A	A	1R	A	A	A	A		0-1
Tournaments Won	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	2
Year End Ranking	108	38	8	19	31	19	18		N/A

A = did not participate in the tournament

Q = Qualifying round loss

[edit] Team Achievement

2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
2004 Hopman Cup Finalist (with Karol Kucera)
2004 Athens Olympic Games
2005 Hopman Cup Champion (with Dominik Hrbatý)

[edit] Special Achievements

2001 WTA Newcomer of the Year Award
2002 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year Award
2003 Laureus World Sports Academy Award nominee for World Newcomer of the Year Award

[edit] See also

List of famous tall women

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Daniela Hantuchová

Daniela Hantuchova official web site
WTA Tour profile for Daniela Hantuchova
Daniela Hantuchova sites at the Open Directory Project
Andrew Broad's fan site (also contains links to non-English or smaller fansites which didn't make it in Open Directory)
Daniela Hantuchova Unofficial fan site
Daniela in the new Sony Ericsson k800i Commercial

Preceded by Justine Henin-Hardenne	WTA Most Improved Player of the Year 2002	Succeeded by Nadia Petrova
Preceded by Daja Bedanova	WTA Newcomer of the Year 2001	Succeeded by Svetlana Kuznetsova

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