Perfect conditions for errani. Worst for Daniela. The result doesn't surprise me at all. Even the court change favoured errani as Daniela having played her first round on the main stadium would've meant she'd be more used to the court.

Daniela is cursed, I tried denying it for ages but she is...some mighty power doesn't want her to get back to the top of the game. For the past 2 years her matches in big tournaments have been awful. Eg. Playing last up after 3 mens matches, playing Wimbledon in the dark, the pattaya plonkas...it's not been fair and it's bound to continue...until Daniela decides enough is enough and hangs up her racket. This was a golden opportunity and once again the schedules messed everything up..

Daniela is cursed,

I have felt that more than once, and wrote that here more than once. I live with this every day, guys. There is one person in the world that Daniela would finish second to in a golden heart contest, and that's my wife. She opens her heart all the time to help (and often house) people that others won't. The devil hates that, and so she suffers from one major health problem after another (though yesterday, she learned that a lump in her breast is 99% likely to be not-cancerous...Thanks be to God). I so much want Stormy (her real name!) and Dani to meet...they have so much in common charitably. There are times when it's clear that the devil goes hard after Daniela, too. I didn't even know that along with everything else yesterday, there was a 1/2 hour power outage. I do have to conclude this by saying that if any of us had the amazing fortune of meeting Daniela and having a few minutes to converse with her, and told her we think she's cursed, I believe she would flash the Priceless Smile and politely disagree.

Lance Errani Good one, Chungwit.
Ready for a rant, everyone? (And this is not any excuse for last night's result, though I will admit that this kind of stuff only comes to my mind after Daniela loses a match!) When Major League Baseball first began night games in the 1930's and 40's, game times were 8:30 and 9:00. No one thought it should be any earlier because back then, before 3 minute commercial breaks between innings and 6 pitching changes for each side, games routinely took 2 hours or less to play. As late as the 70's, 4 teams began their night games at 8:00. Finally, everyone woke up to how the game had changed and is now routinely 3 hours or more. So now, 95% of night games begin at 7:00. There was a similar evolution in pro basketball and hockey. But then, there is professional tennis. The sport that waits until it actually rains before they close the roof. The sport that uses modern technology for line calls on some courts of a major and not others. The sport that...well, I'm sure you guys can come up with one hundred more. Several weeks ago, when Djokovic confirmed his entry, the organizers scheduled his first match for yesterday. They hyped it to death on their web page. Obviously, to make maximum $, they made it a night match. OK, fine. 7 PM, right? Oh, No. 8:00 PM, and let's make it a doubleheader! The only reason I can think of is that years ago, when the US Open went to night play, they had a couple of Connors matches, one in particular with Nastase, that went deep into the night and became legendary. Wow, that'll bring more publicity, more fans, more $$$! So for a long time now, the US Open has night doubleheaders. But at least they start at 7 or 7:30. Miami's organizers chose 8:00, and it had to be due to their belief that it would make the cash registers cha-ching. So some popular player was going to be put in the 2nd match, and it was Dani. Now, let's assume there was no rain, and Djokovic started at 8:05 or so and won in about 1:40. That's a 10:00 PM start for the next match when you figure in warmups. No professional athlete should have their event start at 10:00. It can't possibly allow for maximum performance, assuming no one's doping. As it turned out, it was 10:45 (and we won't even get into Pattaya). But the point is the organizers deliberately scheduled this so that even in perfect weather, a star player was unlikely to begin play until 10:00 or so. "Nuff said. Geuax, Daniela-bel!

I just don't feel like making excuses for this loss, she just isn't playing good tennis. Yes, Daniela is perhaps one of the unluckiest players (Williams in most slams while in her prime, and later, players up their level against her out of nowhere, that horrible AO semi, etc), but even when the conditions favoured the Italian, I think Daniela is talented enough to get the best of her when playing good tennis. She just did not have a good day.

I hope she can turn this year around. I'll be confident as long as she stays injury-free.

Doubles

1-0, Daniela & Medina Garrigues break to 30.
2-0, Daniela & Medina Garrigues hold from 15-40.
2-1, Shvedova holds to 40, served a couple of DFs but saves a BP.
Got to go for a bit, back ASAP.
3-3.
3-4, Goerges/Shvedova hold to 40, save a BP.
4-4, Daniela & Medina Garrigues hold to 30.
5-4, Daniela & Medina Garrigues break to 30 on their 3rd BP.
5-5, Medina Garrigues broken to 30, served a DF.
5-6, Goerges/Shvedova hold to 15.
5-7, Daniela broken to 40 for the set, saved one set point at 30-40 but couldn't win the game at deuce.

Daniela & Medina Garrigues only won 44% of their service points compared to 56% for Goerges & Shvedova.

I swear, if Georges is in the same Hemisphere as Daniela, much less on the same Court, she loses.

OK, stop me if you've heard this before: Dominika was leading Serena, 6-2 4-1. Guess who won. A Slovakian player having a shot to beat Serena and ending up heartbroken...what a novel concept.
Enjoyed the shot of Dani at the Miami Heat game. She sure knows how to enjoy life! You may be aware of the 27 game win streak the Heat is on right now. Would be nice if Daniela could ever match that someday!
Incidentally, I should like to believe that proper protocol was followed, meaning that LeBron James and Dwayne Wade asked Daniela for HER autograph! I am certain that she obliged cheerily.

I've decided to change tact and b positive. Daniela's going to have a great run in Charleston.
i did the same before miami and look what happened