she could be really something. 13 y.o. and already in an IMG London Academy, made it to slam junior qualies in just a few months on the circuit etc. Hope she's a future star.
there was one week in 1997 where miki won in bol and majoli won in germany
i also think we had a week where ancic and ljubicic were both in finals, but i can't remember an atp/wta finals combo (maybe iva and goran did it at some point between 1993 and 1997??)
Well she is playing Hantuchova tomorrow, she'll be the favourite, great groundstrokes, serve, nice volleys, with her performance from the second and third set, Daniela could be too much for Donna.
I don't know, like someone said, in Tashkent we were all praying that Begu defeats Ula, and then she had 74% of first serve and won straight sets, nobody can know what will hapen. The most important thing is that Donna ends this match tomorrow( winning or losing) with no regrets,knowing that she did her best.
Dan Doe wrote that Donna must be better than he thought, i would say that she is better than i see. She somehow wins all these matches, has fantastic results and i still don't see what everyone else is seeing. Serve is good that's gotta be said, it's a nice weapon and it's hard to play against Donna if she has a high 1st serve %. Good return but it's like when the point develops on the level terms for a few shots she's having a hard time imposing herself as a dominant one and finish the point with an easy winner. Groundstrokes are good and pretty reliable from both wings but as i see it not good enough (or maybe "heavy" is a better choice of word) to set her as a dominant player in most relies (not sure is it the lack of power, top spin or just 'cause her play seems very predictable). Volleying, dropshots and overheads i better not mention 'cause even when they do happen (which is pretty rare) more often than not it would be better they didn't happen. No doubt i'll be called a troll now, but if writing your view on things is trolling than i guess i'm a troll. Someone wrote she 's better than Laura and Madison right now, i have to disagree 'cause i see Keys as the 2nd biggest talent to watch for (right after Konjuh.), she's not consistent yet but she has the ability to dominate. If Donna is better than her right now than no sweat for Croatian tennis, 'cause Donna will be a sure top 5 for a number of years to come. Of course i'm happy with every win for Croatian tennis, and i wish she wins a grand slam one day and proves me completely wrong (i mean if the types of Safina, Jankovic and Wozniack were no.1 than nothing is stopping Donna to achieve the same). It's gotta be said that i did not take under consideration her age, i just wrote what i see right now and she will no doubt improve in many departments through the years but weather that'll be enough to make her a true champion or just a very good WTA 10-30 that's yet to be seen.
Donna is showing consistency and maturity as many older players than her do not have and ever will. :yeah:
Simply amazing for her age!
In match against Riske, Donna would be favorite...it would be match for first title for both of them, but Donna is much better ranked than Riske (who is 164th). But Riske is obviously very tricky as she beat Lisicki! Also, she played one SF her in Birmingham I think.
And Hanutchova...she is 60th in the moment, far away from her best form. She is searching her best this year, much oscillations. But she has tons of expirience more than Donna. I mean, she made became pro in 1999. which means she had to started at least 5,6 years which furthermore means she has started to play tennis before Donna was born! Daniela has so much experience, titles, finals, grand slam SF, matches against all biggest stars of WTA of last one, two, even 3 generations in last 15 years!
Also, is better ranked...with all those facts no one can ignore that she is actually much bigger favorite...But all this doesn't have to mean anything at the court tomorrow. It is Donna the one who has nothing to lose so just enjoy your best career week Donna (beating 3 top 50 players, something she didn't do in Taskhent).
Everybody on this forum knows that your favorite player is Anett, or she is one of the favorite players. So, what I don't get it is why do you trashing Donna so much? Should we compare them? Anett is even older. OK, just half a year but she is older. And where is she? What kind of tournaments does she play? You underestimate Taskent, but Taskent is WTA level liked you that fact or not. As I see it, Anett is still playing 10 000 and 25 000 K's. You can't be serious if you are trying to proof that that 25 000 K in Moscow is stronger then Taskent?!
Simplistic draw? What do you expect in Birmingham? Serena? Sharapova? Vika? There was Flipkens, Ula, Cirstea, Lisicki, Schiavone, Makarova, Paszek...it's not Donna's fault that they all lost and she didn't. I would like to see Anett vs. Cirstea. No matter what surface...grass, clay...
Donna is 16. Just 16!!! And she has 2 WTA finals under her belt. No matter where does those WTA tournaments are played but they are WTA tournaments!
I am sorry but I didn't see the word Anett mentioned once in there :lol:
My relationship with Anett is different: I like her on a personal level and on a nationalistic level: I know her and I am Estonian. My relationship with Donna is like mine with Putintseva: I only base it on her results and game. I like Donna's game, I think she is over-ranked and had a good draw, but I thought she showed incredible grit this week. If I am not allowed to say that then there is something fundamentally wrong with this forum given that half of Tennis Forum believes the same :lol: Just because she is 15 doesn't mean that she's not over-ranked :lol: Anyway, I don't give a shit if you hate me, but don't assume that everything I say is a troll comment when you know I haven't been trolling the whole year
And BTW, given the way Cirstea was playing, I think Anett would have beaten her
I do not understand some people here. This girl is Croatian, way more talented than Lucic or Sprem was. Be happy. I am, to see our girl into the sunday wta final. F..ck yourself loosers, you have a problem.
Maybe you weren't born when Mikica played at her teen years, 'cause such a statement can come only from someone who never saw her play at her best (about Sprem i completely agree), and i am happy every time Donna wins but i just can't see such a great game that everyone else is talking about (might just be that i' have some kind of tennis blindness)
I didn't watch the Hantuchova/Riske match after the rain delay, but Hantuchova has been playing well all week. I think her experience might be too much for Donna.
Just watched the third set of Hantuchova - Riske and well... Daniela didn't really have to do all that much. Important points were given to her on a silver platter as Riske can give away quite a few. For the first half of the set Riske kept her own and they were really deadlocked, both serving well and keeping most of the points short. Daniela of course doesn't mind a longer rally, cause that's when her strenghts (putting up a great pace first and foremost) are put to best use. Riske on the net was pretty useless and she made some of her biggest mistakes by coming forward. She also didn't pressure Daniela nearly enough to make her uncomfortable as a good mover like DH didn't have any problem getting to most of them. Difference in experience was obvious of course, mostly in the shot selection department, but overall I wasn't really impressed by either.
I say that if Donna can put up a good resistance today and stay toe to toe with Daniela for long enough, she does have a shot, given her own mental strenght and Hantuchova's frailty in the same department. She can outserve Hantuchova and also give her legs some serious run for the money. She can also hit much harder than Riske IMO so we'll see how the Slovakian copes in that situation. On her best, she can take sets off the likes of Sharapova, but she is not there at the moment so overall I really do see Donna as a serious contender here. Yes, she'll probably be a bit nervous (although I'd assume much less than in the Tashkent final), but she's got a real challenge ahead and she does love a good challenge. Needless to say that taking out Hantuchova on grass would be one hell of an achievement.
I just did a little math - even if Donna doesn't win today, she is sure to finish the year inside top 130; if she does win today it's 120 and if after that she also wins a round in Wimbledon it's a guaranteed top 100 even if she doesn't play any more matches for the rest of the year. Not bad
Donna is not over-ranked. At the moment i just don't see that many great players on the WTA. There are maybe 20 players that are obviously better but other than that there are a lot of similar players who can all be competitive with each other so even if she would be top 50 right now i couldn't say she is over-ranked.
Vekic and Cilic we'll be on the court at the same time, i hate watching 2 streams at once. (maybe it will rain in Birmingham til Cilera finishes )
Of course she is not over ranked. We all know there is just 3 great players at the moment, the rest of them are interchangeable. Besides who can really subjectively decide the players ranking, it is not like any one can claim they have watched every singles match on tour this year.
It's kind of funny to say that a girl who is under age eligibility restrictions is "overranked". She is limited to the amount of tournaments she can play, unlike everyone else in the Top 100.
+1
I mean she got points as she earnt playing all tournaments others also could play. And she many times beat much better ranked players than her. She is barely losing to some players who are lower in rank than her. And all that with restrictions she still has as junior!
So, ranks are showing what are showing and stop discussing unnecessary things. :yeah: No one can blame Donna for well planning tournaments and well playing and going in tournaments far. She well deserved everything in her career so far. I mean, haven't you seen her how she is playing in this tournament? Is that really overanked for someone currently in top 80? REALLY?
Hantuchova is in her 15th WTA final, going 5-9 in the first 14. She is playing Vekic for the first time.
"She's having a really good week," the former World No.5 said. "She's beaten some very good players and I think the grass suits her game. She reminds me of myself - a couple of years ago, of course."