Mona Barthel overpowers Alberta Brianti to reach the round of eight – e-Boks Open 2012
German tennis ace, Mona Barthel, powers her way to the quarter-final rounds of the e-Boks Open after dumping the 63rd ranked Italian veteran, Alberta Brianti, in the second round clash on Wednesday. Sixth seeded Barthel
took just one hour and 23 minutes to wrap up victory in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2, to enrol into the final-eight of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event in Copenhagen, Denmark.
21-year-old German competitor exhibited a brilliant display of dominance and class to outsmart Brianti in an assertive fashion. She bettered the Italian veteran in every segment of the game and gave her limited opportunities to
come on top of the game. Brianti outplayed her on her home soil in Stuttgart, Germany, in 2008, but this time Barthel kept her under the cosh throughout the contest to level the head-to-head series at 1-1.
Rated at number 37 in the WTA Premier Rankings, Barthel could merely deliver 50 per cent of her serve on target in the match. However, she dropped just four points on his first serve, bagging 27 out of 31, to rout her opponent.
She crafted a total of 11 break points in the match but only four conversions proved sufficient for her to pocket victory. The 32-year-old Italian registered just one break point in the entire matchup, frittering away the other three break opportunities to
finish on the losing side in the end.
Brianti drew first blood in the third game of the match, only to be broken in the very next game to fall back at 3-3 afterwards. The rest was a complete German-show, with Barthel dominating every second of it. She broke serve in
the eighth game and then served out of the opener at 5-3 to get the upper hand in the match.
The 21-year-old nailed two more break points in the first and fifth games of the second set to close out the matchup at 6-2.
Second seeded German, Angelique Kerber, will take on the unseeded Briton, Anne Keothavong, in the second round battle of the e-Boks Open. The winner of the two will face Barthel in the quarter-final on Friday.
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