Dubai: A direct flight between Pattaya and Dubai would take a little over six hours.
On Monday night, less than 24 hours after winning her third title at the PTT Thailand Open, Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova was there pushing herself yet again before carving out a hard-fought 7-6, 3-6, 6-3 win over Mona Barthel before Venus Williams started the defence of her title with a 6-1, 6-2 waltz over Belinda Bencic on the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Women’s Open on Monday.
Last weekend in Thailand was not the easiest one after Hantuchova took nearly five hours on court in the semi-final and final of the annual tournament that completed 24 years this year.
She saved two match points to beat Marina Erakovic in 2.46 hours in the semi-finals on Saturday, before playing for another 2.07 hours in the final against Ajla Tomljanovic to bag her seventh career title.
The Slovak looked a bit rusty at times in the opening set, but given her fighting qualities, she just hung in there before winning the set 7-6 in an hour and six minutes.
However, her concentration showed a dip in the next set as she surrendered 3-6 in 37 minutes to force the deciding third.
Rightly, Hantuchova was the first to make a move as she broke her German opponent in the eighth game to surge clear 5-3 to hold serve and finally wrap up set and match 6-3 in two hours and 39 minutes to set a meeting with top seed Simona Halep in the last match on Tuesday.
In the bargain, the Slovak had spent an inspiring playing time of seven hours and 32 minutes on three successive days.
Hantuchova landed in the early hours of Monday and managed just one hour of sleep before coming on court for her opener against the German.
“The key lay in my returns. I am exhausted. I need to recuperate and get ready for tomorrow’s match [against Halep]. This tournament means so much to me and I had to get this done,” she said.
Defending champion Venus Williams, meanwhile, had not such pangs as she swept aside Belinda Bencic 6-1, 6-2 in nine minutes more than an hour. The defending champion broke in the fourth and sixth games to wrap up the opening set 6-1 in 26 minutes.
Bencic broke in the second for 2-0 lead, but Venus was in no mood for a long night as she broke back and won the next six games to wrap up set and match.
