[Lunaris]

Location: Sibamac Arena - National Tennis Centre, Bratislava, Slovak Republic
Stadium Capacity: 4100
Date: 07 February - 08 February 2009
Day 1: 1300 hrs (1200 hrs GMT)
Day 2: 1300 hrs (1200 hrs GMT)
Surface: Hard (Latex-ite) - Indoors
Ball Type: Wilson US Open Extra Duty CTS

 

[Lunaris]

Daniela is already in Bratislava and looking forward to this tie. First time since her debut she isn't leader of the team.
Some pics.

 

[Josh.]

Maybe not being the leader is a "good let of pressure" sort of situation. :shrug:

 

[Richie's]

C'mon Slovaks! Bring us some good wins this year!

 

[itzhak]

sexolovakia girls...

 

[Lunaris]

Maybe not being the leader is a "good let of pressure" sort of situation. :shrug:

I thought it would be interesting to see how Cibulkova deals with pressure as the leader of the team which includes Daniela. She was the team leader in a few ties when Daniela didn't play, but with Daniela in the team it might be different. Probably either more stressful for Cibulkova as she would be keen to show that she is the true leader or less stressful knowing that there is still Daniela to save the day if something goes wrong. But against not so strong team like Belgium they shouldn't have any trouble.

 

[Richie's]

Danka's previous special FED Cup pics:

 

[Protoss]

So how is the leader of the team determined? Is it based on who has the highest ranking?

 

[bad_angel_109]

i wont be able to watch any of domi or danka's matches. let alone the dubs match i wanted to watch, coz the height difference between domi and daniela intrigues me lol. :bigcry:

btw im roughly domi's height (im sooo damn short argh, whenever i saw danka at the Ao or was standing next to her at the qualies, i was like "im soo damn short!" lol). oh and i've posted some more pics of danka from fed cup '09 in the off-court pics thread if anyone's interested.

 

[rockstar]

R1 - D.CIBULKOVA (SVK) v K.FLIPKENS (BEL)
R2 - D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) v Y.WICKMAYER (BEL)
R3 - D.CIBULKOVA (SVK) v Y.WICKMAYER (BEL)
R4 - D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) v K.FLIPKENS (BEL)
R5 - D.CIBULKOVA / D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) v T.HENDLER / S.OYEN (BEL)

 

[Aleh]

06 Feb 2009
...
"Injury and illness kept the longtime Slovak No.1 Daniela Hantuchova out of the competition last year but the 25-year-old star is back, and coming off a runner-up finish in the Australian Open doubles with Ai Sugiyama. But for the first time in nearly a decade the former world No.5 is installed as her country’s No.2, behind 19-year-old Dominika Cibulkova. Across the net, Belgium is led by 20-year-old Yanina Wickmayer, world ranked No.76, and 23-year-old Kirsten Flipkens, the former top-ranked junior who sits at No.94. “It’s true we’re the underdogs,” agreed team captain Sabine Applemans. “Our players will just have to play their best tennis.”

The Slovak Republic and Belgium have faced each other twice before in Fed Cup, most recently in 2003, for one win apiece. Belgium, champions in 2001 and runners-up to Italy in 2006, last competed in the World Group in 2007; a win this weekend would be the first step in restoring the Slovak Republic to the elite eight for the first time since 2004."
...
“As long as we win three points it doesn’t matter who is first and who is second or which time of the day we play,” Hantuchova said. “We’ve got a great team and big ambitions and I think one day we can get pretty far.” Cibulkova, still riding high after winning the Hopman Cup with childhood idol Dominik Hrbaty, added: “It’s a little different, but I try not to think about it. The most important thing is to win your matches and I focus on that. It’s been difficult to acclimatise to the conditions after Australia, but we’ve had a great week of practice and I’m feeling better.”
...
The full draw for the weekend is as follows:
Saturday
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) v Kirsten Flipkens (BEL)
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK v Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)

Sunday
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) v Yanina Wickmayer (BEL)
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) v Kirsten Flipkens (BEL)
Dominika Cibulkova/Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) v Tamaryn Hendler/Sofie Oyen (BEL)

http://www.fedcup.com/news/newsarticle.asp?articleid=12156

 

[Aleh]

from Thursday party:

 

[nigel - dani fan]

Fed Cup: World Group II 1st Round
R2 - D.HANTUCHOVA (SVK) v Y.WICKMAYER (BEL)
15:0 .. 30:0 .. GP .. 0-1*
0:15 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 (Ace) .. 30:30 .. BP .. DEUCE .. GP .. *1-1
15:0 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 .. GP .. 1-2*
0:15 .. 0:30 podme! .. BP .. 15:40 .. *1-3
0:15 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 .. GP .. 1-4*
15:0 .. 30:0 .. GP .. 40:15 .. *2-4
0:15 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 .. GP .. 40:30 .. 2-5*
15:0 .. 30:0 (Ace) .. 30:15 .. GP .. *3-5
15:0 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 .. 30:30 .. BP .. DEUCE .. BP .. 4-5*
15:0 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 (Ace) .. GP .. *5-5
15:0 .. 30:0 .. 30:15 .. 30:30 (DF) .. GP .. DEUCE .. GP .. 5-6*
15:0 .. 15:15 (DF) .. 30:15 .. 30:30 .. GP .. DEUCE .. GP .. *6-6
0-1,1-1,2-1,3-1,4-1,5-1,6-1,6-2,7-2
Danka wins first set tb, 7-6
15:0 .. 30:0 .. GP .. 40:15 .. 40:30 .. DEUCE .. GP (Ace) .. *1-0
15:0 .. 15:15 .. 15:30 .. 30:30 .. GP .. DEUCE .. BP .. DEUCE .. BP (DF) .. DEUCE .. GP .. 1-1*
15:0 .. 30:0 .. GP .. (Ace) *2-1
15:0 .. 30:0 .. 30:15 .. GP .. 40:30 .. DEUCE (DF) .. GP .. DEUCE .. GP .. DEUCE .. BP .. 3-1*
0:15 .. 15:15 (Ace) .. 15:30 .. 30:30 .. BP .. DEUCE .. GP .. (Ace) *4-1
15:0 .. 15:15 .. 30:15 .. GP .. 40:30 .. 4-2*
15:0 .. 30:0 .. GP .. 40:15 .. 40:30 .. DEUCE .. BP .. *4-3
0:15 (DF) .. 15:15 .. 15:30 .. BP (DF) .. 30:40 .. 5-3*
0:15 .. 15:15 .. 15:30 .. 30:30 .. MP .. DEUCE .. MP .. DEUCE .. MP (Ace) .. *6-3
Danka wins, 7-6, 6-3

 

[G&R]

well done danka

 

[Aleh]

credit fedcup.com

 

[Aleh]

by the way Daniela will play in Paris:
9 - 15 February
http://www.opengdfsuez.com/joueuses.php?op=simple&language=fr

 

[Mic-190286]

Nice that Dani still played the higher ranked belgium.

Does anyone have the match stats? They had them on the live scores but can't find them now.

 

[nigel - dani fan]

thanks to chungwit on Christine's site..

 

[Mic-190286]

thanks, though the live scores had winners, UEs too

ah well, nice aces to DFs ratio Dani!

 

[Wiggly]

Good thing she's playing Paris, she had pts to defend and she's finding her form again so she might as well cash in some pts, even if it's jus to save her ranking. 30 is better than 50. :lol: