In Harkleroad's victory, the opening set was much closer than the score indicated. All seven games went to at least 30-30. But Harkleroad was 3-for-4 in break points while South converted just one of five break chances.
"My serve wasn't on today and I was giving away too many free points with my ground strokes," South said. "It just didn't quite happen today."
Harkleroad served to begin the match and had to fight off a break point. But South committed two unforced errors and a double fault on her serve to fall behind 2-0.
South, however, responded by breaking Harkleroad in the third game to get within 2-1. But that would be the only game South would win all day.
Even when she wasn't at her best, Harkleroad found a way to win a game. She double-faulted twice in the fifth game, but still was able to keep South at bay.
"She's great indoors because she hits such a big ball," Harkleroad said. "The first set was definitely tough, even though the score didn't show it. But I out-toughed her, so that was good."
Any hope for South to rally went by the wayside in the first two games of the second set. South served to begin the set and built a 40-15 advantage. But she squandered the next four points and got broken again.
Then in the next game, South won the first two points on Harkleroad's serve. But again, Harkleroad came back with four straight points to take a 2-0 lead.
From there, Harkleroad won 16 of the final 22 points to close out the match.
Despite the loss, South was still positive during her post-match comments.
"It's been a pretty good week for me," South said. "I played some pretty good tennis. Everyone here was so friendly and I'll be back next year."