Kristina Barrois defeats Johanna Larsson to reach the final at the 2011 Estoril Open
German tennis player Kristina Barrois continued her impressive run on the Women’s Tennis Association tour as she thrashed out Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-6 (2), 6-4 to advance into the finals of 2011 red clay courts Estoril Open
in Portugal.
The opening set was played on a very competitive note as it was forced into the tie-breaker. Larsson made some good moves and broke the serve first to cement her position in the contest. Barrois had other ideas, as she broke back
immediately and clinched four straight points in the tie-breaker to take the opener 7-6 (2).
Second set also followed a similar pattern. Both the contestants put up a magnificent show early in the set as serve breaks were traded. However when the score was tied at 3-3, Barrois smashed a wonderful forehand winner down the
line to set up two break points for her. She then converted the first break point to take 4-3 lead in the set. The German then held on to her next serve games to ensure a straight set victory in a match that lasted for 1 hour and 49 minutes.
Barrois’s serve was her real weapon as she fired serve aces to secure crucial points. With her aggressive baseline strategy she managed more than 54 per cent of the points on return. She broke the serve six times to establish
firm control over the contest. Larsson made a good start to the match but lost her concentration during the second set and hence paid the price.
The running season has proved to be a terrible one for the 29 year old Barrois. At the year first Grand Slam tournament, Australian open, she was knocked out in the second round by Russian Pavlyuchenkova. Qatar Ladies Open, Paris
Indoors, BNP Paribas Open and Sony Ericsson Open also resulted in disappointment for Barrois as she failed to reach past the second round of any of the WTA tournaments. However, here on the red clay courts of Portugal, she certainly upped her game play, showing
amazing determination to book a place in her first final of the season.
Barrois’s opponent in the final will be Anabel Medina Garrigues who eased past Romanian Monica Niculescu to reach that far at the WTA event. A tough and an exciting contest is expected between the two players as Barrois bids for
first WTA title of her career.
"I hope I can play some more years like this," said Barrois, who actually started playing on the WTA at age 25, much later than usual. "It's only my sixth year on the tour so I'm quite young in tennis years and I hope to keep getting
better."
In her last event, Barrois was one of four Germans to reach the quarterfinals of Stuttgart. It was her first Premier-level quarterfinal. "It was a home tournament. I played well there like all the other German players - we were
on a run there, and I'm trying to keep it going here. I'm confident and playing so well."
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