TheSportsCampus

Mona Barthel of Germany has been crowned the 2012 Moorilla Hobart International Singles Champion. The world No. 64 won her first WTA title this evening after she defeated world No.29 and top seed Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

Barthel came through the tournament as a qualifier, winning eight matches in a row and knocked off four seeds in total including Wickmayer, No.2 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP), No. 4 seed Angelique Kerber (GER) and No.5 seed and defending champion Jarmila Gajdosova (AUS). Barthel thus became the first qualifier to win a title since Tamira Paszek at Québec City in September 2010.

Barthel was elated with her win and impressed with the way she played. "I'm really surprised right now, I played a really good match. I'm happy I won the tournament. I had a great week here, it could not have been better and we will see how the future will go," she said.

The win puts the 21-year-old in good stead as she now makes her way to Melbourne for her first Australian Open starting on Monday. Barthel opens her campaign against Briton Anne Keothavong.

Wickmayer on her part will be disappointed with both her performance and the outcome. She came into the final as the top seed and to win just three games is rather poor. The result means the Belgium now slips to a record of 3 from 7 in WTA Tour finals.

In the doubles final Romanian duo and fourth seeds Monica Niculescu (ROU) and Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU) defeated No.3 seeds Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) and Marina Erakovic (NZL) 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 10-5 to win the title.