Tennis roundup: Mona Barthel clinches Prague Open title, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova wins at Rabat

Germany’s world-ranked 82 Mona Barthel clinched the WTA Prague clay-court title after stunning Czech home hope Kristyna Pliskova in three topsy-turvy sets on Saturday. Barthel, a qualifier in the Czech capital, defeated the 58th-ranked Pliskova 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 for her fourth career title. It was the 26-year-old Barthel’s eighth match in as many days and she said afterwards: “I cannot believe it. I don’t even know how I won given my fatigue.” Despite defeat Pliskova, junior Wimbledon champion in 2010, will enter the top 50 in the world for the first time next week. [caption id=“attachment_3428826” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Mona Barthel and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with their respective trophies. Images from Twitter.[/caption] Meanwhile in Rabat, Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova clinched her 10th career WTA title with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Italian Francesca Schiavone. This was Pavlyuchenkova’s second title of the WTA season, with her first tile coming on hard courts in Monterrey earlier this year. Bothh the finalists headed into Saturday’s final on a nine-match winning streak. Pavlyuchenkova will look to keep her winning streak going at the Madrid Open in Madrid, where she faces Sorana Cirstea in the first round. Schiavone, a wildcard into the main draw, will face a qualifier in Sunday’s first round. With inputs from AFP