AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 22, 2006

Daniela Hantuchova

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: I had my chances, definitely. I felt like, you know, few points here and there and, you know, the score could have been very different. And, you know, I felt like I was getting really into it in the second set by 3-Love up. Yeah, just then because of the thing I did with my leg, my movement was not as good as it was in the first set. Perhaps in the long rallies I needed to be sometimes, you know, with the ball a little bit quicker. But at the same time, all the credit to her, the way she handled the big points well. Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good match.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: It was at 2-Love in the second set when she hit a very fast return and I tried to react and tried to turn quickly to the other side. I pulled a little bit of the muscle in my leg.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: It's been great. I really enjoyed every single second of it. You know, I definitely am taking home some really nice memories, especially from the match against Serena. It was something very special for me. Today I felt, again, that I was very close. But it just showed me the few little things that I still need to work on and improve. Hopefully next time I come back here, I will be even more ready.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: Uhm, well, I mean, it's hard to think of all of them right now. But just maybe sometimes being even more patient. Even though I thought I did that much better this year, and sometimes, you know, make my opponents play that one extra ball, and just knowing how to play the big points better. Especially matches like tonight will give me those experiences. Hopefully, next time it will be better.

DANIELA HANTUCHOVA: It's tough to say. I mean, you have seen so far that there is so many matches that, you know, you just can't really predict what's gonna happen. But definitely if she keeps playing like she did tonight, definitely I feel like she's got a very good chance.