Mona Barthel

Mona Barthel

File:Barthel RG15 (1) (19122069219).jpg Barthel at the 2015 French Open
Full name	Mona Barthel
Country (sports)	Germany
Residence	Neumünster, Germany
Born	(1990-07-11) 11 July 1990 Bad Segeberg, West Germany
Height	1.85 m
Turned pro	2009
Plays	Right-handed (two handed backhand)
Prize money	$2,244,132
Singles
Career record	281–183
Career titles	3 WTA, 5 ITF
Highest ranking	23 (18 March 2013)
Current ranking	61 (16 May 2016)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	3R (2012, 2014)
French Open	3R (2014)
Wimbledon	2R (2013, 2014)
US Open	3R (2015)
Other tournaments
Olympic Games	1R (2012)
Doubles
Career record	52–65
Career titles	2 WTA, 1 ITF
Highest ranking	63 (14 September 2015)
Current ranking	84 (16 May 2016)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	2R (2015)
French Open	2R (2013)
Wimbledon	3R (2015)
US Open	2R (2012, 2013, 2015)
Mixed doubles
Grand Slam Mixed Doubles results
Wimbledon	1R (2013)
Team competitions
Fed Cup	1–1
Last updated on: 16 May 2016.

Mona Barthel (born 11 July 1990) is a German tennis player.

Barthel has won three singles and two doubles titles on the WTA tour as well as five singles and one doubles title on the ITF circuit in her career. On 18 March 2013, Barthel reached her best singles ranking of world number 23. On 14 September 2015, she peaked at world number 63 in the doubles rankings.

Early life

Mona Barthel was born in Bad Segeberg to Wolfgang Barthel, who won the shot put event at the 1970 European Junior Athletics Championships in Paris, and Dr. Hannelore. She was raised in a tennis-playing family, and took an interest in the game at age 3. She has cited Steffi Graf as an inspiration. Barthel moved to Neumünster, where she completed her Abitur in 2009, having attended the Klaus Groth Schule.

Early career

2007–2010: Early career

Barthel played her first ITF tournament in July 2007 in Frinton where she qualified for the main tournament and reached the quarterfinals, losing to Jade Curtis. In July 2008, she reached the finals of the Frinton tournament, losing to Tara Moore, and the $10,000 event in Gausdal, losing to Svenja Weidemann. She also reached the doubles final in Gausdal partnering Weidemann, where they lost to Tegan Edwards and Marcella Koek. Her first ITF tournament victory was in January 2010 at the $10,000 ITF tournament in Wrexham, beating Anne Kremer of Luxembourg in straight sets. In February 2010, she reached the doubles final of the $50,000+H Biberach tournament, partnering Carmen Klaschka, losing to Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro and Selima Sfar. In April 2010, she won the singles title at the $50,000 Torhout tournament, beating Rebecca Marino in the final, and also won in doubles, partnering Justine Ozga, defeating Hana Birnerová and Ekaterina Bychkova in the final.

2011: Success on the ITF circuit

Barthel started 2011 with a tournament victory. In Andrezieux she beat Stephanie Vogt of Liechtenstein. In the summer she won two more titles, in Mestre against Garbiñe Muguruza and in Shrewsbury against Heather Watson. She then played in the 2011 e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open and advanced to her first WTA semifinal, defeating two seeded players en route. In the semifinal she lost to eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki.

Barthel then went on to qualify for the 2011 Wimbledon Championships without dropping a set in the qualifying rounds.

2012: First WTA title

Barthel started her year at the ASB Classic in Auckland. She defeated Jelena Dokić in the first round, but lost a close match against compatriot Sabine Lisicki in round two.

Barthel qualified for the Moorilla International in Hobart. She defeated Romina Oprandi in the first round, and followed it up with three upsets in a row, beating second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, fifth seed Jarmila Gajdošová, and fourth seed Angelique Kerber. In the final, she defeated top seed Yanina Wickmayer to claim her first WTA title. With this win, Barthel became the first qualifier since September 2010 to win a WTA tournament.

Following her maiden title win, Barthel made her debut at the Australian Open. In the first round she defeated Anne Keothavong and number 32 seed Petra Cetkovská. In the third round she was defeated by the third seed and eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.

Her next tournament was the 2012 Open GDF Suez in Paris. In order to play in the main draw, Barthel had to qualify, which she did successfully by defeating Mariya Koryttseva, Julie Coin and Varvara Lepchenko. In the first round of the main draw she defeated Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová. In the secound round she crushed Frenchwoman Pauline Parmentier to move into the quarterfinals, but then lost her quarterfinal match to Yanina Wickmayer.

In Doha, Qatar, she reached the second round, but lost to new world number 1 Victoria Azarenka. After passing her opening round in Indian Wells at the BNP Paribas Open, she was drawn to verse Azarenka again, a match in which she played the best tennis of her career as she led 4–1 in the third set and served for the match twice but eventually lost. After a comprehensive victory over Gréta Arn at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Barthel defeated 13th seed and former number 1 Jelena Janković before losing in the third round to another in-form unseeded opponent, Ekaterina Makarova.

As the sixth seed at the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open in Copenhagen, Barthel beat Johanna Larsson and Alberta Brianti to reach the quarterfinals where she lost to second seed and fellow German Angelique Kerber despite leading in the final set and holding match points.

Barthel was given a wildcard into the 2012 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in her home country. In the first round she defeated former world number 1 and French Open Champion Ana Ivanovic. In the second round, Barthel recorded her first victory against a top 10 player by defeating world number seven and seventh seed in her biggest career win to date, Marion Bartoli. She played world number 1 Victoria Azarenka for the fourth time that year, losing in three sets. Barthel reached the semifinals of the Swedish Open in Båstad, losing to Polona Hercog.

At her first Olympic Games, Barthel lost to Urszula Radwańska. Barthel then travelled to the Rogers Cup in Montreal, and beat Tímea Babos in a third set tiebreak before dropping a match point against second seed Agnieszka Radwańska, falling in three sets. At the US Open, Barthel lost to Bojana Jovanovski in the first round.

2013: Top-30 breakthrough

After reaching the semifinals of the ASB Classic and the final of the Hobart International, Barthel won her second WTA title and first premier title at the Open GDF Suez in Paris, where she defeated Sara Errani in straight sets. This win moved Barthel up to 28 in the world rankings. Barthel's next tournament was at the Qatar Total Open, where she beat Yulia Putintseva in the first round and took out the 5th seed Angelique Kerber in straight sets. She lost in the third round to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets. At the Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells, Barthel made it to the fourth round, including wins over Kiki Bertens and former world number 1 and 11th seed Ana Ivanovic. She lost to Samantha Stosur in the fourth round. After this tournament, her ranking rose to a career high of world number 23.

Barthel started her clay court season by participating at the 2013 Family Circle Cup, where she was seeded 8th. After receiving a bye into the first round, she lost to American Jessica Pegula, despite serving for the first set. Representing Germany for the first time, Barthel travelled to Stuttgart to play the Fed Cup World Group Play-off. In her first match she lost to Ana Ivanovic in three sets but beat Bojana Jovanovski to bring the tie all-square at 2–2. After Sabine Lisicki and Anna-Lena Grönefeld beat the Serbian doubles team, it secured Germany their place in the 2014 Fed Cup World Group.

Barthel then played at the indoor clay event in Stuttgart but lost in the first round to Lucie Šafářová. In doubles she partnered with fellow German Sabine Lisicki where they beat experienced players, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza in the final. This was Barthel's first doubles title.

File:Mona Barthel Wimbledon 2013.jpg

Barthel at the 2013 Wimbledon Championships

Barthel's next tournament was the 2013 Mutua Madrid Open where she lost to Kirsten Flipkens in the first round. She had to withdraw the Premier 5 tournament in Rome, due to a stomach illness. At the second Grand Slam of the year in Paris, she lost to Angelique Kerber in the first round, despite having set points in the first set tie-break. Mona's scheduled tournaments for the grass court season were in Birmingham, 's-Hertogenbosch and Wimbledon. She lost to young American and Madison Keys in Birmingham and Garbiñe Muguruza in 's-Hertogenbosch. At the 2013 Wimbledon Championships, Barthel advanced to the second round for the first time in her career, but was again on the losing end to Keys.

To kick off the summer hardcourt season in North America, Barthel's first tournament was the 2013 Citi Open where she was seeded 6th. She beat Switzerland's Stefanie Vögele in the first round but lost to the eventual finalist Andrea Petkovic in the second round. In Toronto she reached the second round but lost to Sloane Stephens in three sets. She had a good preparation for the US Open in Cincinnati where she defeated Lucie Šafářová and upset Maria Kirilenko. She faced Serena Williams in her next match but lost in round three. At the last Grand Slam of the year in New York, Barthel made it to round two where she lost to Alison Riske. In doubles, she partnered up with Līga Dekmeijere where they reached the second round, losing to the 16th seed pairing of Jelena Janković and Mirjana Lučić-Baroni.

During the Asian swing, Barthel suffered early losses to Venus Williams in Tokyo, Lauren Davis in Beijing, Elina Svitolina in Linz and Vögele in Luxembourg to end her paradoxical season.

2014: Inconsistency

Barthel started her season at 2014 ASB Classic where she was a semifinalist the previous year. Seeded 8th, she lost in the first round to Yvonne Meusburger of Austria. She then travelled to Hobart for the 2014 Hobart International where she reached the final a year before. She defeated Elina Svitolina in the first round but lost to Monica Niculescu in round two. At the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne, Barthel reached the third round with wins over Zhang Shuai and Luksika Kumkhum, before losing to quarterfinalist and 28th seed, Flavia Pennetta, despite serving for the second set at 5-4.

Barthel went to Paris to defend her title, but lost to Kirsten Flipkens in three sets. With this loss, Barthel dropped from 36 to 64 in the world rankings. Barthel added further disappointment to her season with losses to Annika Beck at the 2014 Qatar Total Open and losing to Maryna Zanevska in qualifying for the 2014 Dubai Tennis Championships. For the first Premier Mandatory event in Indian Wells, Barthel lost to Francesca Schiavone in three sets. At the 2014 Sony Open Tennis, Barthel had to retire in round one due to illness. Playing at the 2014 BNP Paribas Katowice Open for the first time, she lost to fellow German Annika Beck for the second time in two months. The following week, Barthel qualified but lost to Jelena Janković in the first round in Stuttgart even though she had several match points against the Serb.

Before the French Open, Barthel reached the quarterfinals in Nuremberg where she lost 4th seed Elina Svitolina. Barthel had a good run at Roland Garros, defeating Karin Knapp in her opener. She advanced to the third round when compatriot Sabine Lisicki was forced to retire with a wrist injury. In the third round, she lost to Pauline Parmentier in three sets.

At the 2014 Aegon Classic, Barthel defeated Ajla Tomljanović before falling to top seed Ana Ivanovic in the second round. The following week, she qualified for the 2014 Topshelf Open, defeating Maria Kirilenko in the first round before losing to Klára Koukalová in round two. At Wimbledon, Barthel lost to Petra Kvitová in the second round. At the 2014 Gastein Ladies, she lost to Karolína Plíšková in the first round. The following week, she competed in Båstad where she won her third WTA title. She won her first two matches over qualifiers Tereza Martincová and Gabriela Dabrowski respectively. In the quarterfinals, she overcame Kaia Kanepi in straight sets. She then defeated Sílvia Soler Espinosa and advanced to the final where she was victorious over Chanelle Scheepers. Barthel moved back into the world's top-50 after this result.

During her preparation for 2015, Barthel suffered a torn ligament in her right foot.

Playing style

File:Mona Barthel 03.jpg

Barthel serving

Barthel plays aggressively, and is primarily known for her power and movement. She is noted for having a strong serve and for hitting shots down the line, as well as for a tendency to approach the net. In her straight-sets victory at the 2013 GDF Suez, she hit 53 winners. Barthel produces deep groundstrokes, and hits powerfully on both the forehand and backhand sides.

On defense, she is noted for her aggressive return of serve, as well as for her scrambling ability.

WTA finals

Singles (3–3)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (1–0) International (2–3)

Finals by surface Hard (2–2) Clay (1–1) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Winner	1.	14 January 2012	Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Yanina Wickmayer	6–1, 6–2
Runner-up	1.	12 January 2013	Hobart International, Hobart, Australia	Hard	Elena Vesnina	3–6, 4–6
Winner	2.	3 February 2013	Open GDF Suez, Paris, France	Hard (i)	Sara Errani	7–5, 7–6(7–4)
Winner	3.	20 July 2014	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Chanelle Scheepers	6–3, 7–6(7–3)
Runner-up	2.	19 July 2015	Swedish Open, Båstad, Sweden	Clay	Johanna Larsson	3–6, 6–7(2–7)
Runner-up	3.	19 October 2015	Luxembourg Open, Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Misaki Doi	4–6, 7–6(9–7), 0–6

Doubles (2–1)

Legend Grand Slam tournaments (0–0) WTA Tour Championships (0–0) Premier Mandatory & Premier 5 (0–0) Premier (1–0) International (1–1)

Finals by surface Hard (1–1) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Winner	1.	28 April 2013	Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany	Clay (i)	Sabine Lisicki	Bethanie Mattek-Sands Sania Mirza	6–4, 7–5
Runner-up	1.	21 September 2014	Korea Open, Seoul, South Korea	Hard	Mandy Minella	Lara Arruabarrena Irina-Camelia Begu	3–6, 3–6
Winner	2.	19 October 2015	Luxembourg Open, Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg	Hard (i)	Laura Siegemund	Anabel Medina Garrigues Arantxa Parra Santonja	6–2, 7–6(7–2)

ITF finals

Singles (5–4)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (4–3) Clay (1–0) Grass (0–1) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	1.	19 July 2008	Frinton, United Kingdom	Grass	Tara Moore	5–7, 1–6
Runner-up	2.	26 July 2008	Gausdal, Norway	Hard	Svenja Weidemann	2–6, 3–6
Winner	1.	24 January 2010	Wrexham, United Kingdom	Hard	Anne Kremer	6–1, 6–1
Winner	2.	10 April 2010	Torhout, Belgium	Hard (i)	Rebecca Marino	2–6, 6–4, 6–2
Winner	3.	23 January 2011	Andrézieux-Bouthéon, France	Hard (i)	Stephanie Vogt	6–3, 3–6, 6–4
Runner-up	3.	6 February 2011	Sutton, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Kristina Mladenovic	3–6, 6–1, 2–6
Runner-up	4.	7 August 2011	The Bronx, United States	Hard	Andrea Hlaváčková	6–7(8–10), 3–6
Winner	4.	18 September 2011	Mestre, Italy	Clay	Garbiñe Muguruza	7–5, 6–2
Winner	5.	24 September 2011	Shrewsbury, United Kingdom	Hard (i)	Heather Watson	6–0, 6–3

Doubles (1–2)

Legend $100,000 tournaments $75,000 tournaments $50,000 tournaments $25,000 tournaments $15,000 tournaments $10,000 tournaments

Finals by surface Hard (1–2) Clay (0–0) Grass (0–0) Carpet (0–0)

Outcome	No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Partner	Opponents	Score
Runner-up	1.	26 July 2008	Gausdal, Norway	Hard	Svenja Weidemann	Tegan Edwards Marcella Koek	6–1, 4–6, [8–10]
Runner-up	2.	28 February 2010	Biberach, Germany	Hard (i)	Carmen Klaschka	Stéphanie Cohen-Aloro Selima Sfar	7–5, 1–6, [5–10]
Winner	1.	9 April 2010	Torhout, Belgium	Hard (i)	Justine Ozga	Hana Birnerová Ekaterina Bychkova	7–5, 6–2

Grand Slam performance timeline

Singles

Tournament	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	W–L
Australian Open	A	A	3R	1R	3R	2R	1R	5–5
French Open	A	2R	1R	1R	3R	1R		3–5
Wimbledon	Q1	1R	1R	2R	2R	1R		2–5
US Open	Q1	2R	1R	2R	2R	3R		5–5
Win–Loss	0–0	2–3	2–4	2–4	6–4	3–4	0–1	15–20

Doubles

Tournament	2012	2013	2014	2015	W–L
Australian Open	1R	1R	1R	2R	1–4
French Open	1R	2R	1R	1R	1–4
Wimbledon	1R	1R	1R	3R	2–4
US Open	2R	2R	1R	2R	3–4
Win–Loss	1–4	2–4	0–4	4–4	7–16

Top 10 wins per season

Season	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	Total
Wins	0	0	0	1	3	0	1	5

#	Player	Rank	Event	Surface	Round	Score
2012
1.	Marion Bartoli	No. 7	Stuttgart, Germany	Clay (i)	2nd Round	6–3, 6–1
2013
2.	Marion Bartoli	No. 10	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Quarterfinals	7–6(7–6), 6–4
3.	Sara Errani	No. 7	Paris, France	Hard (i)	Final	7–5, 7–6(7–4)
4.	Angelique Kerber	No. 6	Doha, Qatar	Hard	2nd Round	6–1, 6–2
2015
5.	Eugenie Bouchard	No. 7	Antwerp, Belgium	Hard (i)	2nd Round	4–6, 6–1, 6–2

External links

• Official website
• Mona Barthel at the Women's Tennis Association
• Mona Barthel at the Fed Cup