Johansson to play Hercog in Bastad final

Sweden missed out on having one of the country’s top players in the final of the Swedish Open tournament, when Mathilde Johansson of France (who was born in Sweden) beat the last remaining Swede in the draw, Johanna Larsson, in two hard fought sets, 6-4 6-4. The match lasted one hour fifty minutes and was characterised by nine double faults by Johannson and three by Larsson; while Johannson won a much higher percentage of the break points on offer.

In the second semi final match of the day, between Polona Hercog of Slovenia and the last remaining seed in the draw, Mona Barthel of Germany (seeded 7), Hercog prevailed with a comfortable 6-1 6-3 victory in exactly one hour on court. Last year’s champion, Hercog is on course to defend her title in Sunday’s final.

The Swedish pair of Sofia Arvidsson and Larsson lost their doubles semi final to Mervana Jugic-Salkic of Bosnia Herzegovina and Eva Hrdinova of the Czech Republic in yet another tight match which lasted one hour twenty minutes. The final score was 5-7 6-1 10-7. The Swedes only won one out of four break point chances, while Jugic-Salkic and Hrdinova won fifteen out of twenty. Their opponents in tomorrow’s final are Catalina Castano and Mariana Duque-Marino of Colombia.

 

Tags Bastad Johanna Larsson Mathilde Johannson Mona Barthel Polona Hercog