WTA: Barthel wins opener in Budapest

Fed Cup player Mona Barthel has taken an important step out of the depth of her form. The 27-year-old from Neumünster won her first-round match at the WTA tournament in Budapest against the Ukrainian Kateryna Koslowa 7-6,5-7,6-0.

Barthel thus prevented her fifth first-round defeat at the sixth tournament this year. Despite a good performance, last week’s opening match in Doha saw her narrowly fail at the former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland).

In the round of sixteen, the world rankings-74 meet. Barthel either in the German duel against Tatjana Maria (Bad Saulgau) or the Hungarian Timea Babos in third place. The event, endowed with $250,000, will also feature wildcard owner Antonia Lottner (Düsseldorf), former Wimbledon finalist Sabine Lisicki (Berlin) and Carina Witthöft (Hamburg).