Daniela Hantuchová
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| Country: |  Slovakia |
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| Residence: | Monte Carlo, Monaco | |
| Height: | 5' 11 ¾ (181 cm) | |
| Weight: | 123 lb (56 kg) | |
| Plays: | Right | |
| Turned pro: | May 1999 | |
| Highest singles ranking: | 5 (January 27, 2003) | |
| Highest doubles ranking: | 5 (August 26, 2003 and June 12, 2006-July 10, 2006) | |
| Singles titles: | 1 | |
| Doubles titles: | 8 | |
| Career Prize Money: | $4,101,909 | |
| Grand Slam Record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Australian Open | QF (2003) | |
| French Open | 4th (2002, 2006) | |
| Wimbledon | QF (2002) | |
| U.S. Open | QF (2002) | |
Daniela Hantuchová (born April 23, 1983 in Poprad, Slovakia) 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 30 October 2006 she is ranked #17 in the world in singles and #13 in the world in doubles.
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[edit] Overall
Hantuchová has won one WTA singles tournament in her career, in 2002 at the Tier I Pacific Life Open, defeating Martina Hingis 6-3 6-4 in the final. 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 in 3 sets), but has yet to win a second singles title.
[edit] 2002
She made her breakthrough in 2002 beating top 10 players Justine Henin-Hardenne in the fourth round and Martina Hingis in the final at Indian Wells. Winning the title catapulted her onto the world stage, with Ace Tennis Magazine even touting her as being the next contender for the Williams sisters' throne. In the same year, she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon and the US Open (losing to Serena Williams both times). She also reached the quarterfinals at the following year's Australian Open (losing to Venus Williams). She also reached the final of Filderstadt but lost to Kim Clijsters in the final and even though Hantuchová was unable to add another singles title to the one at Indian Wells, consistent performances enabled her to reach a career high of #5 in the world (she was the first ever Slovak woman to reach this level).
[edit] 2003
At Wimbledon 2003, however, Hantuchová suffered the most public of breakdowns during her match with Shinobu Asagoe in the second round. She lost the match 10-12 in the final set and was seen crying between points as early as the 14th game. She continued to cry after the match, and suffered a sudden dip in her form in subsequent matches. She also suffered significant weight loss during 2003 and into 2004. Her breakdown at Wimbledon was widely believed to be due to not being able to deal with such high hopes at such a young age.
[edit] 2004
In 2004, Hantuchová showed a rise in her fortunes when she reached the final at Eastbourne. Ranked no.54 and as a wild card, she beat top seed Amelie Mauresmo in the semi-finals 4-6 6-4 6-4. However she lost in the final to Svetlana Kuznetsova while she was a set up and serving for the match. This was to be a turning point in her career, as she pulled herself out of the low 60s in her ranking, finishing the year inside the top 30, despite a setback right at the end of the year when she was surprisingly defeated in Quebec by unknown Canadian Melanie Gloria, a player ranked outside the top 1,000.
[edit] 2005
In 2005 she had her best year since her breakthrough in 2002, getting to the final of Los Angeles and also reaching three semifinals and six quarterfinals on the WTA tour. She finished the year inside the top 20.
[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. 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 Dianra 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
Daniela is slated to start off 2007 in Auckland for the ASB Classic.
[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.
Hantuchová had won over US$4,121,409 in prize money by the end of 2006.
[edit] Titles
| Legend (Singles) |
| Tier I (1) |
| Tier II (0) |
| Tier III (0) |
| Tier IV (0) |
| Grand Slam Title (0) |
| WTA Tour Championship (0) |
| ITF Circuit (3) |
| Legend (Doubles) |
| Tier I (1) |
| Tier II (4) |
| Tier III (2) |
| Tier IV (1) |
| Grand Slam Title (0) |
| WTA Tour Championship (0) |
| ITF Circuit (3) |
| Legend (Mixed Doubles) |
| Grand Slam Title (4) |
[edit] Singles (1)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 4. | March 16, 2002 | Indian Wells, California | Hard |  Martina Hingis (Switzerland) |
6-3 6-4 |
[edit] Singles finalist (4)
- 2002: Filderstadt (lost to Kim Clijsters)
- 2004: Eastbourne (lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova)
- 2005: Los Angeles (lost to Kim Clijsters)
- 2006: Zurich (lost to Maria Sharapova)
[edit] Doubles (9)
[edit] Mixed Doubles (4)
| No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponent in the final | Score |
| 1. | 2001 | Wimbledon | Grass |  Leos Friedl (Czech Republic) |
 Mike Bryan (USA) &  Liezel Huber(South Africa) |
4-6 6-3 6-2 |
| 2. | 2002 | Australian Open | Hard |  Kevin Ullyett (Zimbabwe) |
 Gaston Etlis (Argentina) & Paola Suarez(Argentina) |
6-3 6-2 |
| 3. | 2005 | French Open | Clay |  Fabrice Santoro (France) |
 Leander Paes (India) & Martina Navratilova(USA) |
3-6 6-3 6-2 |
| 4. | 2005 | US Open | Hard | Mahesh Bhupathi (India) |
 Nenad Zimonjic (Serbia) &  Katarina Srebotnik(Slovenia) |
6-4 6-2 |
[edit] Team Achievement
- 2000 Eurotel Doubles Champion
- 2002 Fed Cup Champion (Slovakia)
- 2004 Hopman Cup Finalist w/Karol Kucera
- 2004 Athens Olympic Games
- 2005 Hopman Cup Champion w/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
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: |
- 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 |
