Misaki Doi was overjoyed to win her maiden title at the Luxembourg Open. The left-hander defeated Mona Barthel of Germany in three sets: 6-4, 7-6, 6-0. After two close sets, the decider was dominated by the twenty-four year-old from Japan. Barthel had bested Doi in their only previous meeting in three sets in the qualifying tournament in Beijing 2014.
It was a final of unseeded players as both Doi and Barthel had impressive wins over extremely accomplished opponents throughout the tournament. Doi had taken out the only remaining seeded player, defeating fifth seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals. Doi had also ousted the fourth seed, Andrea Petkovic, in the first round. Barthel, ranked 55, dismissed sixth seed, Sloane Stephens, in the first round.
Doi opened the match with a break of serve and that was all she needed to win the set, 6-4. Each player held serve easily after the first game, with four games held to love. Doi won 77% of her service points despite only making 58% of her first serves. Barthel won 65% of her service points. Doi was rewarded for playing her groundstrokes and volleys aggressively.
The two players continued to hold serve easily in the second set with only one breakpoint opportunity in the set. Barthel came out ahead in the tiebreak to level the match at two sets all.
The German got off to a good start in the deciding set, going up 0-40 on Doi’s serve. However, the rest of the set belonged to Doi. Barthel was not relaxed nor swinging freely as she was in her previous matches. Whereas, the lefthander from Japan executed her shots well and seemed very confident. Doi broke Barthel’s serve in the second and fourth games of the set to go up 4-0. At this point, Barthel’s body language looked defeated. The German only won 28% of her service points in the third set. Doi went on to take the set 6-0.
Doi is currently ranked 92. With this title, her ranking reportedly jumps to 60.
