Mona Barthel crashes out by Alexandra Panova in round one – Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012
Fifth seed, Mona Barthel, was underplayed by the Russian qualifier, Alexandra Panova, in straight sets at the Internationaux de Strasbourg 2012 on Tuesday. She suffered a 3-6, 6-7(7) shock at the hands of the world number 77 in the opening round of this
WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International-level event taking place in Strasbourg, France.
The German seed displayed dismal performance at this encounter and eventually bear a shocking defeat in almost one and a half hour. She was trailing 0-5 in the second set but made a spectacular recovery, eventually imposing a tie-breaker. After Barthel lost
in the tie-breaker, the qualifier not only avenged her defeat at the Marbella WTA event last circuit but also levelled their head-to-head series by 1-1.
Barthel made a terrible start at this outdoor clay court event and endured the first blow in the fifth game to trail at 2-3. Despite snatching her break back in the very next game, the German lost the following three games consecutively and bear a 3-6 loss.
Ranked 32nd in the WTA Premier Rankings, Barthel swayed from her path completely and lost the opening five games in a row. However, she showed resistance and wiped out the proceeding five games consecutively, subsequently dragging the set to the
tie-breaker. The German fought back hard in it but jolted down a 6-7(7) defeat.
All in all, Barthel spilled 10 double faults and played poorly throughout the battle. The German fired six aces but saved only 13 out of 18 breakpoints she faced. She also clobbered a lower first serve share of 60 per cent as compared to Panova’s 74 per
cent and capitalised on three out of nine break chances.
The 23-year-old on the other end advanced to face the Czech star, Lucie Hradecka, who triumphed over the Luxembourgian lucky loser, Mandy Minella, in straight sets to set up this match.
The ninth seed, Aleksandra Wozniak, also became the casualty of the day. She bowed out to the Israeli number one, Shahar Peer, with a bagel to progress. The Canadian broke her opponent’s serve three times but dusted away only four out of 11 breakpoints she
faced, eventually registering a 5-7, 0-6 defeat.
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