Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson said Wednesday that the Moscow indoor court help her score the biggest upset of the Kremlin Cup so far in beating second seed Marion Bartoli.
Arvidsson's immaculate serve helped her to a 6-3, 6-0 win over Bartoli, who got barely half of her first serves in and notched up 12 double faults.
"I am very happy to win this match to reach the quarterfinals,” the 28 year old said after the match.
“Marion is a great competitor, a top-10 player, and I knew I would have to be at my best. My strategy was to focus on the way I wanted to play and move her around the court. I love to play indoors.”
Arvidsson, ranked 46 in the world, added that she was very comfortable playing in Russia and was looking forward to a good result in her first Moscow tournament.
“I grew up in Sweden, so the conditions here in Moscow really suit me.”
Bartoli agreed the surface made the difference, and was totally unsuitable for her style of play.
“The surface was very slow that didn’t help my game. It was more trying to get inside the court and get the ball early, but still my balls weren’t disturbing Sofia very much, so she got all the time in the world to get it back.”
Arvidsson faces either Yaroslava Shvedova or seventh seed Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinal of $740,000 tournament.
