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Temperature on court climbed to 110 degrees when today's second
quarterfinal contest commenced at the Rogers AT&T Cup. Clad completely in
black, a confident Daniela Hantuchova looked unconcerned with the
sweltering sun that had the mercury in court-side thermometer seeking
shelter from the heat. Six games into the match it was clear, the
eighth-seeded Slovak was unfazed by Barbara Schett's shots as well.
In a commanding performance of powerful
baseline play, Hantuchova won five of the first six games and surged past
Schett 6-3, 6-3 to secure a spot in the semifinals of the $1.224 million
Montreal tournament.
The 19-year-old Hantuchova meets
Amelie Mauresmo in Saturday's semifinals. The seventh-seeded French woman
crushed Colombian Fabiola Zuluaga, 6-0, 6-2 in today's first quarterfinal
on stadium court.
Planting her feet on top of the
baseline, the long-legged Hantuchova sought to step into the court at the
sight of the slightest short ball and drive deep shots near the lines. The
sheer pace of Hantuchova's shots frequently forced Schett into hitting
errant, off-balance replies.
The 26-year-old Schett had looked
sharp in scoring successive 6-4, 6-4 victories over 15th-ranked Chanda
Rubin in the second round and seventh-ranked Kim Clijsters in the third
round. Schett started off today's match with an ace, but later in the
opening game, Hantuchova pounced on a pair of short serves and pounded a
pair of backhand return winners down the line to break serve. Hantuchova
break again in the fifth game then held at 15 to extend her lead to 5-1.
Schett staged a brief rally in
winning eight of the next 10 points to close to within 3-5, and was
serving at 30-15 when she missed a backhand wide and a forehand long to
hand Hantuchova set point. Schett saved the first set point, but
Hantuchova hit a forehand return winner crosscourt to earn her second set
point and took the first set when an unsettled Schett hit an off-balance
backhand off her back foot that landed well wide of the sideline.
Winless in her four prior
quarterfinals this season, Schett could not contend with the depth of
Hantuchova's shots. Though Schett showed brief bursts of brilliance in
hitting sparking shots they were offset by sustained periods of
error-prone tennis. Schett thrives off pace and likes to step in to take
the ball early, but Hantuchova effectively dictated play for much of the
match with her pace and opened up the court with a devastating
down-the-line backhand.
In the second set, Hantuchova
continued to produce deep shots that danced near the baseline. The
Wimbledon quarterfinalist won five of the first seven games and eventually
closed out the match with a forehand winner down the line to raise her
record on the season to 37-17. | 
