Off-season training pays off for Daniela Hantuchova as she dismisses second seed

Daniela Hantuchova has advanced to the second round after defeating second seed Sara Errani. Hantuchova credits the success to tough pre-season training.

"Always after the pre-season you can’t wait to be on court to see where your game is, and I was nicely surprised by myself today. I was just really looking forward to being on the court and starting the new year on a good note. It seemed like everything worked out pretty well today.

How much work have you been doing in the off-season?

"A lot. I was in China for three weeks, because I started to work with Carlos Rodriguez, and we had the IPTL after that which was a lot of travelling but so much fun, then again in Dubai, so it’s been a lot of work."

You had quite a tough run at the end of last year. Does that make it more enjoyable to have a good win like this today?

"Yeah definitely, 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. 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."

What in particular were you pleased about with your game today?

"I think just the overall intensity. 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."