Barthel Advances To Second Round In Nürnberg

Mona Barthel (photo: Tobias Höfinger)

NÜRNBERG, May 20, 2019

Rain wreaked havoc at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup, with torrential downpours in Southern Germany pretty much wiping out all of Monday’s first-round matches. Of the 10 scheduled singles matches only one was completed when Germany’s Mona Barthel defeated Paula Ormaechea of Argentina 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

But even that encounter took more than fours hours to complete because of a three-hour rain break.

Barthel struck seven aces, winning 71 per cent of her first service points to prevail after a match time of one hour and 45 minutes. The 28-year-old’s victory meant she has been the only player to win through to the second round of the WTA International event so far.

Rain in Nürnberg

“Conditions were difficult today, but we are now used to that. The hotel here in Nürnberg is situated right next to the venue. That’s nice,” Barthel said.

“The decisive factor in the match was that I played more consistent and better in the third set. Now I’m looking forward to the next big challenge.”

The World No. 84 awaits the tournament’s top seed Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan in the second round.

Tuesday’s order of play will be packed with the tennis action to start at 10 am.

TUESDAY ORDER OF PLAY

CENTRE start 10:00 a.m.
[WC] Anna-Lena FRIEDSAM (GER) vs Irina-Camelia BEGU (ROU)
[Q] Cagla BUYUKAKCAY (TUR) vs [8] Andrea PETKOVIC (GER)
[WC] Sabine LISICKI (GER) vs [3] Ajla TOMLJANOVIC (AUS)
[WC] Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS) vs Johanna LARSSON (SWE)

Not Before 5:30 p.m.
Mandy MINELLA (LUX) vs [2] Katerina SINIAKOVA (CZE)

SHOW COURT 3 start 10:00 a.m.
[4] Alison RISKE (USA) vs [Q] Nina STOJANOVIC (SRB) 6-7(6), 3-2 – to be finished
Krystina PLISKOVA (CZE) vs [Q] Jule NIEMEIER (GER)
Sorana CIRSTEA (ROU) vs [6] Kirsten FLIPKENS (BEL)
After suitable rest – [3] Raquel ATAWO (USA) / Katarina SREBOTNIK (SLO) vs [WC] Katharina HOBGARSKI (GER) / Jule NIEMEIER (GER)

COURT 5 start 10:00 a.m.
Vitalia DIATCHENKO (RUS) vs Veronika KUDERMETOVA (RUS) 4-6, 6-6 – to be finished
Tamara ZIDANSEK (SLO) vs Misaki DOI (JPN)
[WC] Katharina GERLACH (GER) / Julia WACHACZYK (GER) vs Georgia MARCHETTI (ITA) / Laura PIGOSSI (BRA)
Luisa STEFANI (BRA) / Nina STOJANOVIC (SRB) vs [Alt] Akgul AMANMURADOVA (UZB) / Valentyna IVAKHNENKO (RUS)
Sharon FICHMAN (CAN) / Nicole MELICHAR (USA) vs Andreea MITU (ROU) / Alexandra PANOVA (RUS)

COURT 4 start 10:00 a.m.
[5] Ekaterina ALEXANDROVA (RUS) vs [Q] Jana CEPELOVA (SVK) 6-4, 2-1 – to be finished
[Q] Quirine LEMOINE (NED) vs [Q] Laura PAAR (ROU)
[1] Gabriela DABROWSKI (CAN) / XU Yi-fan (CHN) vs Cornelia LISTER (SWE) / Renata VORACOVA (CZE)
Shuko AYOYAMA (JPN) / Yana SIZIKOVA (RUS) vs Paula KANIA (POL) / Xenia KNOLL (SUI)