Wimbledon has its first finalist as Marion Bartoli cruised past Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-2 to advance to her second Wimbledon final.
The 15th seed completely outclassed Belgian Flipkens, taking just 27 minutes to forge ahead in the first set.
The 28-year-old Frenchwoman settled well into the contest against a player who was playing her first Grand Slam semi-final and hampered by a knee injury, and took the opening set 6-1, sealing it with an ace.
“I just cannot believe it, I played so well,” Bartoli told BBC.
“I think she was a bit injured. She deserves a lot of credit, but it must be hard to be injured in the semi-final at Wimbledon.”
Bartoli, who lost Venus Williams in the 2007 Wimbledon final, made two early breaks in the second set before Flipkens received on –court treatment on her heavily strapped right knee.
There was a flicker of hope for the Belgian on resumption as she got one of the breaks back, but a spectacular return winner and a seventh successful lob put Bartoli 4-1 in front.
Bartoli impressively held her nerve to put away a smash on match point after just 62 minutes.
Bartoli said after the match that the secret of her success was a pre-match nap after her victory on Thursday.
“I slept right before the semi-final,” She said. “You can ask the physio in the locker room.
“I slept from 12pm to 12:30pm right before going on, and you can see I was razor-sharp today. Maybe tonight it will be hard to sleep but I will be having fun tomorrow.”
She will face Germany’s 23rd seed Sabine Lisicki for the title on Saturday after she defeated Polish fourth seed Agnnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 in the other semi-final played on Court One.
