“She hits the ball so hard,” a relieved Anabel Medina Garrigues said of Lucic after her 6-4, 6-4 victory over the Croat. Despite the weight of her shots, Lucic showed little consistency, and had trouble handling Medina Garrigues' backhand slice. When she was forced to come forward, Medina Garrigues was almost sure to draw the error. The Spaniard played classic clay court tennis, defending well and using a variation of backhand slice, topspin forehand, and drop-shots rather than aiming for the lines. Her strategy paid off as Lucic grew more frustrated throughout the match and tried to force winners from awkward court positions.
Shortcuts
The tournament's top seed Marion Bartoli didn't waste much time in her match against the Czech Republic's Lucie Hradecka. The Frenchwoman benefited from a withdrawal by Elena Baltacha in the previous round to reach her first quarterfinal of the clay court season.
Today, Bartoli, who, by her own admission, was lacking in fitness and endurance at the beginning of her career, seemed untroubled by the hot afternoon sun as she broke Hradecka twice to take the opening set, 6-2.
Hradecka has a good first serve and hits the ball hard, but lacks consistency. In the few rallies they played, Hradecka soon found herself out-witted by Bartoli's angles and shot placement. Considering Bartoli’s recent struggles, it is worth noting that her most effective shot in the match was her first serve. Bartoli won 84 % of her first serve points and hit six aces en route to her 6-2, 6-3 victory.
Nadia Petrova also looked eager to find a shortcut in her match against Daniela Hantuchova. Petrova was impatient throughout the match, and rushed both during and between rallies. She even chose to remain standing during one changeover. All these efforts were completely lost on her opponent, however. The bigger the point, the more time Hantuchova took to get herself ready, both on her own serve and on Petrova's. When she finally was issued a time violation warning, it was warranted, considering the entire match. The timing of the warning, however – it came at 6-4, 5-2, 40-40 – was questionable. If Hantuchova was perturbed, it didn’t show. She kept her cool and moments later converted her third match point.
The match showcased Hantuchova's strengths. She has extremely clean strokes, an effective serve, and when she decided to go for the rare drop-shot, she always ended up with the winner. When she did get pushed into defense by Petrova, she could rely on high, slow balls – and the Russian's impatience.
Breaks
In the last singles match of the day, the No. 2 seed Andrea Petkovic of Germany took on the Russian No. 5 seed Maria Kirilenko. Despite an early break and re-break, the first set was rather straightforward. Petkovic had the advantage in baseline rallies; Kirilenko tried to mix it up, but couldn't quite match the German's precision. Petkovic broke Kirilenko with a backhand down the line winner for 5-4 and served out the set at love.
When Petkovic broke again in the first game of the second set, the momentum seemed to have tipped entirely in her favor. However, Kirilenko broke right back and the two of them played a sequence of five straight breaks of serve, with neither player even reaching game point. “The return is one of [the] best shots,” Petkovic tried to explain afterwards, before admitting, “I was very relieved when I finally managed to hold for 5-3.” It was the only hold of the set, which Petkovic took, 6-3.
