Gajdosova’s title defence ends
Ousted 2011 champion Jarmila Gajdosova admits she let her frustrations get the better of her as she fell to German qualifier Mona Barthel at the Hobart International. Gajdosova put on a testy quarterfinal display as she struggled to land her powerful serve and produced several errors in falling 2-6 6-3 6-2. Gajdosova could do little else but…
Hobart, Australia, 12 January 2012 | AAP
Ousted 2011 champion Jarmila Gajdosova admits she let her frustrations get the better of her as she fell to German qualifier Mona Barthel at the Hobart International.
Gajdosova put on a testy quarterfinal display as she struggled to land her powerful serve and produced several errors in falling 2-6 6-3 6-2.
Gajdosova could do little else but admit she’d struggled with her frustration.
“Don’t we all,” she said.
“You’re out there trying your best so of course you get frustrated and then some people handled it better today, some not as well.
“I didn’t handle it as well as I could but I tried and I did what I can and I did my best.”
It’s been a rollercoaster ride for the world No.34 in the lead-up to the Australian Open, where she is yet to win a match in six first-round attempts.
The 24-year-old was reduced to tears after a 6-0 6-0 drubbing by Marion Bartoli at the Hopman Cup but two wins in Hobart had her declaring she was confident of breaking her Melbourne Park drought.
She looked impressive in taking the first set in 31 minutes on Thursday.
But the wheels fell off and she found herself down 3-0 in the second and 5-1 in the third, and didn’t look like recovering in either.
Gajdosova did not believe she had played poorly, and said she would remain true to her aggressive style.
“The only bad thing about it was pretty much I got frustrated and I lost the match,” she said.
“I will keep trying to do what I do.
“If people like it or not, if they like my mistakes or not, I’m still going to hit winners and try to play the way I do.”
Barthel, the world No.64 who ousted second seed Anabel Median Garrigues in the second round, will now play fourth seed and US Open semifinalist Angelique Kerber, who beat Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-0 3-6 7-5.
Top seed Yanina Wickmayer sent an ominous warning when she breezed into the semi-finals by destroying Romania’s Simona Halep 6-4 6-0 in just 57 minutes.
The Belgian will play the winner of Thursday night’s match between sixth seed Shahar Peer and 2007 champion Anna Chakvetadze.