My vist to WTA Paris Indoors 2013 (Open GDF Suez)

I returned to London today after attending the WTA Paris Indoors (Open GDF Suez) at the Stade Pierre de Coubertin in the south west corner of Paris.

It is the 2nd year in a row I attended the event.  Last year the tournament celebrated 20 years with a special exhibition with tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis and Martina Navratilova; and Angelique Kerber won her first title in a thriller of a final against Marion Bartoli in front of a raucous partisan crowd.

I wasn’t expecting a repeat of that sort of drama and excitement but it was an enjoyable tournament; and for the 2nd year in a row, an exciting young German player won the event, the sort of win that can lead to bigger and better things in her career.

I attended the quarterfinals onwards and four good matches were lined up.  The first between Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.  The 1st set went in a flash, Safarova started play and was 3-0 down within ten minutes, Safarova got one break back but was broken again, leaving Bartens to serve for a 6-1 set.

What was interesting was Safarova’s reluctance to go to net. She hit the ball well, but didn’t take on any short ball to follow into net, preferring to prolong the rallies and often losing the point when potentially in a winning position – not taking the initiative.  This lack of enterprise may explain why a player as talented as Safarova has not progressed to top 10 level despite her experience on the tour.

The 2nd set was closer and Safarova finally realised she needed to close the net down to make things happen, she came in 8 times and won 6 of the points, but by now Bartens was playing well in both defence and offence, hitting some big shots and was able to break late on to take the match 6-1 7-5 for her biggest career win.

The next encounter was an intriguing matchup between Carla Suarez Navarro and Sara Errani.  Two of the smaller players on the tour these days, you would expect to see some good counterpunching.  I had never seen Suarez Navarro live before but knew all about her one hand backhand which is a great shot.

It turned out to be the match of the tournament, 3 hours of superb, intense tennis with some incredible shotmaking, particularly from Suarez who hit some mesmerising backhands which the crowd loved.  Not least a stunning running backhand down the line pass first point at 4-3, a shot often considered one of the most technically difficult in tennis.

Errani took a quick 3:0 lead in the first set, Suarez came storming back to serve for the set at 5-3 only to get nervous and not able to close it out. Errani capitalised to break again and claim the set 7-5.  The tactics were interesting because there were many long diagonal rallies backhand to backhand, with Suarez often looking to open up the court with a backhand down the line or with an inside out forehand.  Errani as usual was solid with those pounding topspin groundstrokes; this match was more similar to a mens encounter tactically. Suarez opened up the court with some incredible backhand winners throughout the match, and hit some great crosscourt forehand winners as well.

Suarez broke Errani right at the death to take the 2nd set 6-4 to force a decider.  I was expecting Errani’s greater experience and consistency to come through and that proved to be the case, although Suarez did have match point at 5-4 but was unable to convert.  Errani broke soon after to serve for a great match 7-5 4-6 7-5.

I was really impressed with Suarez and the crowd loved her one hander backhand and style of play.  I just got the feeling that Suarez chose to play the wrong shot at the wrong moment just a bit too often.  Errani’s serve just sits up and Suarez could have attacked it much more often, choosing to stand back and take the return late instead of standing in and taking it early to put the pressure on.  No doubt Suarez has the ability to win WTA titles if she can acquire more self-belief and consistency to go with her talented shotmaking.

The 3rd match was between Mona Barthel of Germany and last year’s finalist Marion Bartoli.  It got me thinking, could Mona Barthel be Germanic for Marion Bartoli?? Anyway, a friend of mine on the WTA tour had been telling me to check out Barthel a year ago saying that she was going to be a very good player; this would be the first opportunity to see her play live.

This match turned out to be a complete contrast to the previous one.  Both players started off serving big and direct, going for their 1st and 2nd serves with no holding back, looking to get to net at every opportunity.  Rallies proved to be extremely short, like a shootout, a female version of Roddick v Raonic of two years ago in Memphis.

After an exchange of breaks, the set went to an inevitable tiebreak with both players serving so well.  Bartoli rushed to a commanding 6-2 lead, but Barthel stormed back remarkably to take the tiebreak 9-7.  This may explain why the crowd seemed a bit subdued because Barthel's serve was so good it was difficult to see where Bartoli would break again.

Bartoli cracked at the start of the 2nd set dropping serve, Barthel held serve throughout the 2nd set to take the match 7-6 6-4.  It was the second year Bartoli would lose to a German player who would turn out to be champion.

In the womens game, I have seen many players serve fast over the last few years, but Barthel places her serve so well, she can hit lines and all targets of the service box, including the slice serve on both deuce and ad courts plus the big serve down the middle.  Her slice serve on the ad court is top notch and is an important shot which other players cannot match in the modern game because they do not practice it enough, Barthel can hit it there like Serena Williams. 

The final match of the evening took place between Petra Kvitova and young French qualifier Kristina Mladenovic.  Perhaps Kvitova was aware of the fact Mladenovic beat Wickamyer and Georges in previous rounds because she started extremely nervous and was two breaks down within 15 minutes.   Kvitova got one break back but Mladenovic was really mixing up her big serve well, getting a few aces in to keep Kvitova guessing.  At the same time, Kvitova’s trusted wide serve on the ad court had gone off completely, draining her confidence.

Mladenovic took the set 6-3 and even though Kvitova broke early in the 2nd set, she was not able to sustain It and Mladenovic broke back at 4-3 and then broke Kvitova for the final time to take the match 6-3 6-4.  It was another great win which really got the French crowd excited, at the same time it was clear that Petra Kvitova is still struggling for form and needs to play as many tournaments as possible to get the feeling of winning matches.  If she does that I have no doubt with her talent she will be up there again.

So, the final would be an intriguing clash of tennis philosophy and style of play. In the semifinals, Barthel was able to dispatch Mladenovic with some ease and Errani capitalised on Bertens’ retirement.  The first few games of the final were very tight with both players feeling each other out; the pattern was established quite early, serve vs return of serve in traditional fashion.  Barthel was getting to net at every opportunity, even throwing in the odd serve and volley, while Errani was continually serving to Barthel’s forehand on the deuce court, keeping her at bay for fear of being attacked by serving weak serves into Barthel’s hitting zone.

Barthel got the first break to serve for the set at 5-3 but got nervous and Errani came back as she so often does.  However, after a tough service game at 5-5, Barthel broke Errani who was serving to stay in the set, and so claimed it 7-5.  Errani held her serve from 0-40 down early in the 2nd set and was hanging on; Barthel was serving incredibly and hitting fantastic winners from the back and some great volley winners too.  Errani tried to bring Barthel in with drop shots as well to test her movement, there were some fantastic rallies.

Barthel broke to serve for the match and again got nervous, allowing Errani back in, and after saving two match points took it to a tiebreak.  As Frew McMillan said years ago, the player with the bigger serve usually wins the tiebreak and that proved to be the case again, Barthel winning it in convincing fashion to win the 2nd title of her career and acclaim from an appreciative crowd for both players.

Errani’s plan was to make Barthel hit as many shots as possible in long gruelling rallies. But Barthel’s serve was just too good and was able to keep the points short and attack the net whenever she could.  The phrase that popped into my head is that Barthel serves like an assassin with clinical precision, so may returns go astray, ricochet into the tramlines, hit the net or land short for a midcourt put away, that is pretty rare in the womens game.

So, for the 2nd year in a row, I left the tournament feeling I’ve just seen a special talent who could go really far if she can maintain this level of consistency and continue to improve her movement and self-belief.  Mona Barthel may not just be top 5 material but potential to be a major winner in the future as well.