Mona Barthel gusts away Sofia Arvidsson to reach the semis - Swedish Open 2012
World number 41, Mona Barthel, ousted the 55th ranked Swede, Sofia Arvidsson, to claim the semi-final berth in the Sony Swedish Open on the eve of Friday. She registered straight sets scores, 6-3, 6-4, taking just an
hour and 34 minutes to finish the encounter.
Unfortunately for the 28-year-old Swede, she was forced to play two encounters in the same evening because the scheduled matches for Thursday were completely washed out due to heavy rain and thunderstorm in Bastad, Sweden.
Arvidsson had won the first encounter against the 21-year-old Dutch, Arantxa Rus, in straight sets but her body was not in a position to take more battering, eventually falling victim to the in-form and energy-filled German opponent.
The 22-year-old German started the match with a serve hold to love and continued to dominate the proceedings with a serve break in the following game. Barthel eased to another game triumph and her opponent was still not off the
mark.
After an intense battle of almost 25 minutes on the clay courts, Arvidsson managed to hold serve in the fourth game but not before she saved seven breakpoints. It was a terrific performance from the local considering her willpower
to keep on fighting despite an early energy shrink in the first encounter.
However, the early breakpoint for the seventh seed German proved enough as she held on to her serves in the remaining part of the set. Arvidsson inched closer on breaking serve on each occurrence but couldn’t construct more than
two opportunities compared to 13 of her rival.
Both players started on similar scale in the second set; met blow-by-blow especially in the starting phase when they traded breakpoints that kept the scores level. No drama was witnessed until he scores moved on to 4-4.
However, the most awaited breakpoint of the set came in the following game when the 41st ranked German bounced over the Swede starlet despite wasting the first opportunity to break serve. Arvidsson couldn’t win the breakthrough
back and keep the match alive that left the crowd dejected.
Everyone expected a three-setter but considering the energy that was consumed in the first encounter, it was relatively a very good show from the 55th ranked Swede who looked a complete different player throughout the
tournament.
Mona Barthel is the only seeded player left in the draw and next up for her is the French starlet, Mathilde Johansson.
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