NÜRNBERG, December 25, 2017

World No. 52 Mona Barthel is set to return to Nürnberg. After 2014, the 27-year-old German will appear for the second time at the NÜRNBERGER Versicherungscup – much to the delight of tournament director Sandra Reichel.

“It’s great news that we could present the second German top player for the NÜRNBERGER Versicherungscup 2018 before Christmas after Julia Görges,” Reichel said. The $250,000 WTA International event will be held from 19 to 26 May 2018 at the venue of the 1. Fc Nürnberg.

“After her last-minute withdrawal last year, we are pleased that the Nürnberger Versicherungscup will again be part of Mona Barthel’s tournament schedule. We wish her a good start to the season and hope that she will stay healthy,” says Dr. Armin Zitzmann, CEO of the NÜRNBERGER Versicherung.

After a couple of illness-related breaks and dropping to World No. 187 in the WTA rankings, Barthel celebrated a brilliant comeback at the Australian Open earlier this year. As a qualifier, she advanced to the second round of the main draw, where she was stopped by US-American Venus Williams. In May, Barthel won the WTA Tournament in Prague – her fourth title on the tour.

In 2014, Barthel reached the quarterfinals of the NÜRNBERGER Versicherungscup after beating Belinda Bencic and Annika Beck. The right-hander will travel to New Zealand on 26 December, where she will open the new season at the WTA International event in Auckland.