Plenty of positives for Anna Karolina Schmiedlova despite being blown away in Hobart International final

The final did not pan out the way Anna Karolina Schmiedlova had hoped, but the 24-year-old has reaffirmed to herself she has her career back on track.

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, of Slovakia, is seen during the singles finals at the Hobart International. Picture: AAP Image/Rob Blakers

THE Hobart International final didn’t pan out the way Anna Karolina Schmiedlova had hoped, but the 24-year-old has reaffirmed to herself she has her career back on track.

Schmiedlova, who climbed into the top 30 players in the world during a breakout 2015 season before plummeting beyond 250 midway through 2017, has steadily regained her groove in the past 12 months.

She entered Hobart without any ambitions but walks away as runner-up after a week where she produced some solid tennis flying under the radar.

The Slovakian had to dig deep to outlast young gun Belinda Bencic in the semi-finals, but was unable to reproduce against Sofia Kenin in the final as she battled on serve in the windy conditions.

“I didn’t play really good and I hoped it was going to be a longer match and hoped I would play better but what can I say, Sofia played really well,” Schmiedlova said.

“I had some chances at the beginning of the first set but then when she was up she didn’t let me get back into the match.

“Even though today was tough, I am still happy with my performance here and I hope I will play good the next two weeks as well.

“Definitely it was a great week for me, I won against a few good players and I didn’t expect it when I came here.”

Schmiedlova started strongly but was unable to convert three break point chances in the fourth game, before handing over the advantage when she was broken herself to love in the fifth.

She had another five opportunities before finally getting the contest back on level proceedings in the sixth game, but another poor serving performance immediately allowed Kenin to edge ahead and the American didn’t look back.

Schmiedlova faces a tough first-round assignment at the Australian Open, where she has drawn 12th seed and two-time Hobart champion Elise Mertens.

“It gave me a lot of confidence winning some matches here, I won’t have a lot of time to prepare but here is similar conditions so I hope it is going to be good for me.

“Definitely she is a great player, she played really well here and in Australian last year and year before.

“It will be really difficult but I have some confidence from this tournament.”