STUNS LISTLESS HUNTUCHOVA

Harkleroad dazzles Southern crowd with upset

By Ron Cioffi
tennisreporters.net

Ron Cioffi/tennisreporters.net

FROM THE FAMILY CIRCLE CUP IN CHARLESTON, S.C. – Calling it the best birthday present ever, Ashley Harkleroad celebrated turning 18 a few weeks early with a stunning straight-set smashing of No. 8 Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals here on Friday.

The Georgia native basked in her Southern roots as the partisan crowds delighted in her 6-2, 6-1 romp over the Slovak. To add icing to the cake, she went out later with Mashona Washington and conquered the doubles team of Martina Navratilova/Alicia Molik, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Until last year when she began to make some progress on the Challenger level, the blonde Harkleroad was better known for her racy outfits and dating Andy Roddick than she was for her standout junior career.

Today, she showed that her diligent work is paying off, as she dominated the slumping Slovak off the ground. Harkleroad nailed 17 winners while committing only 12 unforced errors, while her uninspired opponent committed 41 miscues.

"I can't explain it," Harkleroad said about the enthusiastic response. "Everybody's got the country accents and you feel real close to home. … I feel comfortable here."

CLOSE FRIENDS WITH GINPERI
Harkleroad is a Flintstone native who has called Georgia home and currently trains in Florida. Her old friend Robby Ginepri, another Georgian, has also had success this spring.

"I talk to Robby almost every day on the phone. … I was just very excited for him because he's a great player and I grew up with him," she said.

Harkleroad has been all focus this week. She's was ahead of Emilie Loit when the Frenchwoman retired; she blew through top-20 Russian Elena Bovina, 6-2, 6-2 and then on Friday, avenged a loss to Hantuchova in their only other meeting in the Bronx, N.Y. three years ago. Then, they were both young teens looking to make their marks. Now, Hantuchova has already reached the top five and the dogged fighter Harkleroad is considered by some to have top-20 potential.

Ron Cioffi/ tr.net

To deal with a wintry afternoon, Hantuchova wore long sleeves and a pair of white pants covering her rail-thin legs. The usually taciturn Dani was nearly comatose, showing no grit or determination. She won only 30 percent of her first-serve points and continued the poor, erratic play that saw her fail to defend her Pacific Life Open title last month and fall early at the NASDAQ-100.

"I think it was the last game at 30-0, I hit a lob and she didn't even go for it," said Harkleroad, who will play Justine Henin-Hardenne in the semis.

Harkleroad's surprising performance in this Tier I tournament comes after spending most of the year playing in qualifying tournaments and Challengers. Her wins in Charleston are her first tour level victories since winning a round in Auckland.

"I'm actually having a lot of fun out there and playing my best tennis and it feels like everything is just kind of falling into place. It helps my stomach a lot more and my nerves when I get a match over quickly," she quipped.