Mona Barthel beats Estrella Cabeza Candela to enter the main draw – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Mona Barthel of Germany qualified for the first round of 2011 Wimbledon Championships with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-2 victory over Estrella Cabeza Candela of Spain in the final qualifying round.
The German opened the set nervously, thrashing a number of unforced errors to dump her first service game and hand over Candela an immediate advantage. Barthel’s fans were sweating badly, but seven games on the trot secured Barthel
a place in the first round and Candela’s elimination from the prestigious Wimbledon Championships.
The Spaniard has proven a difficult opponent in the past for German, but Barthel delivered an awe-inspiring display on serve, and in particular, some jaw-dropping defensive tennis which frustrated Candela no end.
Candela, who had defeated the German in the prior meeting, showed some aggressive tennis from the very start of the match, but Barthel, unlike previous encounter, had the answers at almost every turn, forcing Candela to commit
number of unforced errors.
The German broke to lead 2-1 and did not look back from that point onwards. The world number 117 did not muster any critical break point opportunity, a clear tangible proof to Barthel’s brutal serving display.
Barthel rallied her forces into the second set and holding them with some more great comfort, she started to churn out points after points. The German eventually found the right combination of shots and again craved out the decisive
break to go 2-0.
With the British crowd on Barthel’s back, the German managed to seal a precious win, and entered the first round of the tournament in her very own style.
With this win, Barthel has improved her year-to-date win/loss mark to 30/11 matches and now marches on into the first round of the tournament. As for Candela, it looked as if the grass-surface was becoming detrimental to her chances,
losing the match in a very humiliating fashion.
Among all the lucky winners on Friday, Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada also paved her way into the first round after ousting Nina Bratchikova of Russia with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 scoreline.
Despite losing the first set, the Canadian tennis ace looked determined and played for keeps in an attempt to pull off a last-minute victory. Wozniacki proved herself to be the better player statistically and kicked the stuffing
out of Bratchikova in almost every department.
Wozniak, who is appearing for the sixth time at the Wimbledon Championships, will certainly look to impress her fans with the same level of persistency and energy.
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