The tournament was somewhat of a "last woman standing" kind of thing - seven of the Top 8 seeds were bounced in the first round, and after No.6 seed Annika Beck was upset in the second round, it was the first WTA draw where no seeds made the quarterfinals since Hobart in January 2009.
But it was Barthel who emerged victorious from all of the chaos, surviving a few particularly tough ones en route to the final - three-setters against Canadian qualifier Gabriela Dabrowski in the second round and Spain's Sílvia Soler-Espinosa in the semifinals, coming from 4-2 down in the third in the latter - and against fellow unseeded player Scheepers in the final she put her rally cap on again, coming back from 5-3 down in the second set to close out the South African No.1 in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6(3). Barthel's serve was her go-to in the final - she dropped serve once early in the second set, but overall she held nine of her 10 service games, only being pushed to deuce in three of the other ones. "It's been an amazing week for me. I cannot believe I won the title!" Barthel beamed afterwards.
"It was like a perfect week for me. I was fighting a lot - in some matches I was behind, and I was just fighting for every point. I'm just happy everything worked out. I love this tournament so much. "I can't wait to defend my title."
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