Daniela Hantuchova will face Jie Zheng this week in the third round of the Mercury Insurance Open

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Having received a bye in round one, Daniela Hantuchova began her campaign this week at the Mercury Insurance Open with a straightforward 6-1, 6-3 win against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. She’s the eighth seed here, and more displays like that could put her in with a good chance of claiming her second WTA title of the season.

Hantuchova will now face Jie Zheng of China in the third round. Zheng entered this tournament with a disappointing 9-16 match record for 2011, but she’s demonstrated her ability to compete here with back-to-back wins against Mirjana Lucic and ninth seed Roberta Vinci.

Despite this, Zheng seems likely to falter against the world No. 22. She has a 0-4 head to head record against Hantuchova, and has never managed to even take a set from her. There’s a possibility that things will be different this week, but Hantuchova appears to be the clear favourite.

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