MOORILLA HOBART INTERNATIONAL (01/14/12) – Latest Update

Written by: Staff on 14th January 2012

MOORILLA HOBART INTERNATIONAL (01/14/12) - Latest Update

Mona Barthel of Germany poses with the championship trophy after defeating Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium during the Women's finals match at the Hobart International tennis tournament in Hobart, Jan. 14, 2012. (QUALITY REPEAT) EPA/DAVID CLIFFORD AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

MOORILLA HOBART INTERNATIONAL

Hobart, Australia

January 8-14, 2012

$220,000/International

Hard/Outdoors

Results – Saturday, January 14, 2012

Singles – Final

(Q) Mona Barthel (GER) d. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 61 62

Doubles – Final

(4) Begu/Niculescu (ROU/ROU) d. (3) Chuang/Erakovic (TPE/NZL) 67(4) 76(4) 105 (Match TB)

Final Facts

– Barthel wins her first WTA title; her best previous result was the semifinals of Copenhagen last year (where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki, whom she shares a birthday with: July 11, 1990).

– Barthel won eight matches in Hobart (three qualies, five main draw); she beat four of the Top 5 seeds in the main draw (No.2 seed Medina Garrigues, No.5 seed Gajdosova, No.4 seed Kerber, No.1 seed Wickmayer).

– Barthel is the first qualifier to win a WTA title since Tamira Paszek won Québec City in 2010.

– Wickmayer is now 3-4 in her career in WTA finals.

– Begu and Niculescu saved two match points against Chuang and Erakovic in the doubles final.

– Begu wins her first WTA title of any kind, while Niculescu wins her second (she won a doubles title with Alisa Kleybanova in 2009).

Final Quotes

Mona Barthel: “I was a little bit surprised at the score, but I played a really good match today and she made some easy mistakes. I made only a few mistakes and put a lot of pressure on her. I also think I served well, not just today but throughout the week. It helped me a lot, especially in the tough moments.

“I just tried to take it match by match and play each one the best I could. I never thought I would win the title. I’m really surprised. I don’t really realize it yet.”

Yanina Wickmayer: “She played a very good match and it was a bad performance from me. I didn’t play well. I tried to be aggressive but made a lot of unforced errors. I was looking for my game but couldn’t find it out there today. I’m going to try to forget this one as soon as possible.”