Daniela Hantuchova

Daniela Hantuchova Biography

Daniela Hantuchová (IPA: ) (pronounced: HAHN-too-khoh-vah; born April 23, 1983 in Poprad, Slovakia) is a Slovak professional tennis player. She is currently working with a number of coaches who work out of 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 October 29, 2007, Hantuchová ranks at No. 9 in singles. She has twice topped the ACE tennis magazine's Hot List of the world's sexiest tennis players.

Defending a title for the first time in her career, Hantuchová 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, Hantuchová 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.

Daniela 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, Hantuchová lost to Clijsters in the quarterfinals 6-3 6-1. And after a second round loss in San Diego to Sugiyama, Hantuchová 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 (Hantuchová stands 2-0 against Dementieva in semifinals). In the final, for the seventh time in their head-to-head, Clijsters defeated Hantuchová 6-4 6-1. For the third time at the event, Hantuchová made the quarterfinals in New Haven, losing to Davenport 6-2 7-6(5).

Despite disappointing results in the warm-up tournaments she equalled her Australian Open performance by getting to the fourth round of both the French Open and Wimbledon before extending her 2006 Fed Cup record to 6-0 by winning both her singles matches in Slovakia's 5-0 rout of Thailand, which ensured their promotion to the World Group II. Her fourth-round streak at Grand Slams ended when she was beaten by a resurgent Serena Williams at the second round of the US Open, which was the culmination of a very disappointing American hard court season (her record was 7-6 including the US Open, failing to get past the last 16 of any of the tournaments she entered).Daniela Hantuchová at the Zurich Open 2006.

Daniela Hantuchova finished the year ranked 17th in the world with a 34-25 record. She went 24-17 on hard courts, 5-4 on clay, 3-2 on grass and 2-2 on carpet. She was 4-6 against top 10 players beating Schnyder (twice), Safina and Kuznetsova, with losses to Sharapova (twice), Clijsters, Henin-Hardenne, Dementieva and Nadia Petrova.

In her seventh event of the year Hantuchová 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.

Hantuchová reached her first clay semifinal at the tournament in Rome defeating Aravane Rezai 4-6 6-1 6-2, Bammer 6-1 6-2, Chakvetadze 6-2 6-3 and clay-court specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-6(8) 7-5. She lost to Kuznetsova in the semifinal 6-4 6-2. At the French Open she exited in the third round losing to Anabel Medina Garrigues 4-6 7-6(2) 7-5.

At the U.S. Open Hantuchová crashed out to Ukraine's Julia Vakulenko in the first round in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. It was Hantuchová's earliest loss at the U.S. Open since her debut in 2001, and her earliest loss at a Grand Slam since the 2004French Open . Daniela bounced back from that disappointment the next week by getting to her second final of the year at the Tier III tournament in Bali where she lost to Lindsay Davenport 6-4 3-6 6-2. The following week in Kolkata she got to the semifinals, losing to Maria Kirilenko 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

Hantuchová's biggest successes have so far come in mixed doubles. In this event, she won the 2001 Wimbledon championships with Leoš Friedl, the 2002 Australian Open with Kevin Ullyett, the 2005French Open with Fabrice Santoro, and 2005 U.S. Open with Mahesh Bhupathi. She was runner-up in the 2002 Wimbledon with Ullyett, and she reached the semi-finals at theFrench Open in 2004 with Todd Woodbridge. At the 2005 U.S. Open she completed a career mixed doubles Grand Slam with Mahesh Bhupathi when they beat Katarina Srebotnik and Nenad Zimonjić in the final in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. This makes her only the 5th women in tennis history (after Hart, Court, King andNavratilova) to complete a career Grand Slam in mixed doubles. In Perth, Western Australia also in 2005, Hantuchová won the Hopman Cup with Dominik Hrbatý.

Grand Slam Win-Loss0-02-413-48-44-48-410-48-453-28TokyoAAAAQFQF2R1R5-4Indian WellsA1RW4R2R3RAW15-4Miami1R1R2R2R3R2R3R3R3-8CharlestonAA2RQFAAAA3-2BerlinAQQFQF1R1R3R1R6-6RomeA3R1R3R1R1R1RSF7-7San DiegoAA2R3R2R2R3R3R6-6Montreal/TorontoA2RSF3R2R1R3RA8-6MoscowAAAA1RAAA0-1ZurichAQFQF1R2R2RF2R10-7WTA Tour ChampionshipsAA1RAAAA0-1