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By Adrianna Outlaw | Monday, January 5, 2015

 
Daniela Hantuchova

Daniela Hantuchova volleys in her Auckland opening-round win over second-seeded Sara Errani.

Photo Credit: Getty

The first round was frequently the final stop for Daniela Hantuchova last year. Pained by a right knee injury, Hantuchova suffered 12 opening-round losses in 2014.

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The pain-free Slovak celebrated her first match of the new year flying past the first hurdle. Hantuchova hammered second-seeded Sara Errani, 6-3, 6-2, in Monday's ASB Classic opener.

The match spanned just 75 minutes, but the moment was nearly a month in the making. Hantuchova pointed to the three weeks of offseason training she did with new coach Carlos Rodriguez in China as essential preparation.

"It was actually good in a way that the injury forced me to stop the year a little bit earlier, so I actually had a bit more time to recover," Hantuchova told the tournament website. "When I started to work physically, I was really fresh and ready…Carlos is an amazing coach, I’ve been on the tour for 15 years and I’ve never seen anything like it."

Rodriguez, who formerly coached world No. 1 Justine Henin and guided Li Na to the 2014 Australian Open title, has stressed fitness and urged Hantuchova to apply her all-court skills. Hantuchova, a two-time Australian Open doubles finalist who owns a career mixed doubles Grand Slam, frequently stepped into the court to pressure Errani and tried finishing points off at net.

"I think just the overall intensity [was important]," Hantuchova said. "Sara is obviously a great fighter and a great player. For a first round to have a draw like that is not easy, so I knew I had to be extremely focused for every single point because she’s very good at turning matches around. I felt that I was moving well, and just really technically playing the way we worked on with Carlos."

The world No. 62 will face either former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone or Urszula Radwanska for a quarterfinal spot. Schiavone has won five of nine meetings with Hantuchova with three of their last four meetings going three sets.


 

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