Daniela Hantuchova enjoyed the greatest success of her tennis career at Indian Wells.
Hantuchova, who was born in Slovakia, made her WTA Tour debut in 1999 at just 16 years old.
She continued to show signs of promise over the next couple of years, and Hantuchova had broken into the top 30 of the WTA rankings ahead of Indian Wells in 2002.
This was just Hantuchova’s second appearance at Indian Wells, but it turned out to be a huge breakthrough run for her.
No WTA player has won more Indian Wells titles than Daniela Hantuchova
Indian Wells is sometimes referred to as the fifth Grand Slam tournament, with Hantuchova making her debut in 2001 after coming through qualifying.
This resulted in a first round defeat for Hantuchova, who was beaten by Hungarian Rita Kuti-Kis.
Just one year later, a 19-year-old Hantuchova came in as the world number 26 and was the 18th seed in California.
Hantuchova beat the likes of Bianka Lamade and 16th seed Barbara Schett to reach the fourth round of Indian Wells, where she would play third seed Justine Henin.
Despite being the huge underdog in this match, Hantuchova would beat Henin in straight sets to reach the Indian Wells quarterfinals.
Hantuchova would continue this momentum into her matches against Lisa Raymond and Emmanuelle Gagliardi before completing a dream tournament by beating second seed Martina Hingis in the final.
The Slovakian was unable to surpass the fourth round of Indian Wells in her next three appearances, before Hantuchova withdrew from the 2006 tournament due to injury.
Hantuchova was a top 20 player when she returned to Indian Wells in 2007, but she had still not won another WTA singles title five years on.
That would change in the Californian desert, as Hantuchova reached another final after beating the likes of Hingis, Li Na and Francesca Schiavone.
Hantuchova would win her second Indian Wells title after beating Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final, joining the likes of Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams in doing so.
To this day, no WTA player has won more than two singles titles at Indian Wells, with 10 players currently tied on that number.
After winning her second Indian Wells title, Hantuchova described it as even ‘sweeter’ than her first title in her post-match press conference.
“I think it’s even sweeter, I mean, just the feeling of being able to win the same tournament again,” Hantuchova said at the time.
“It’s something I haven’t even thought about. And I know people been saying that I haven’t won a tournament since 2002, but if I had the choice, I would much rather to pick this one than, you know, having to win some little tournaments.
“I mean, this is what’s the most important thing for me, to be able to do well in big tournaments like this and Grand Slams, so definitely it means a lot to me.”
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How close did Daniela Hantuchova come to winning a Grand Slam?
While Hantuchova won one of the biggest titles in tennis twice, she was never able to win a Grand Slam.
The former world number five achieved her best result at a major tournament in 2008, when Hantuchova reached the Australian Open semifinals.
Hantuchova appeared to be on track to reach the Australian Open final when she led Ana Ivanovic 6-0, 2-0, before suffering a heartbreaking three-set defeat.
| Grand Slam | Daniela Hantuchova’s Best Result |
| Australian Open | Semifinal (2008) |
| French Open | Fourth Round (2002, 2006, 2010 & 2011) |
| Wimbledon | Quarterfinal (2002) |
| US Open | Quarterfinal (2002 & 2013) |
Although she was never able to win a major singles title, Hantuchova did find Grand Slam success on the doubles court.
Hantuchova won four Grand Slam mixed doubles titles in her career, all with different partners, and also reached three women’s doubles major finals.
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She made nine more main draw appearances at Indian Wells, with Hantuchova’s best result after her second title win coming in 2008, when she reached the quarterfinal before losing to Maria Sharapova.
Hantuchova would retire from tennis in 2017, with seven singles titles to her name, and her penultimate WTA tournament came in qualifying at Indian Wells.
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