The French number 1 won her first ever Grand Slam tournament on Saturday, July 6th 2013 after completely outplaying Sabine Lisicki with 1-6 and 4-6.
It was Bartoli’s second Wimbledon final in her career and she finally wanted the win the trophy. She reached the Wimbledon final in 2007 when she lost to Venus Williams. She also reached the French Open semi-final in 2011.
On her journey to this year’s final, the French defeated Elina Svitolina, Christina McHale, Camila Giorgi and Karin Knapp in the fourth round. In the quarterfinal, she defeated No.17 seed Sloane Stephens in straight sets with 6-4 and 7-5. She also dominated the semi-finals where she beat Kirsten Flipkens with 1-6 and 2-6 to reach her second Wimbledon final.
Marion Bartoli was determined and dominated the final against Lisicki straight from the beginning. Bartoli broke Lisicki in game 4 with a consistent and strong serve and broke her again in game 6. Lisicki was fighting with her nerves and never settled in the game. The first set was finished 1-6 for Bartoli after just 30 minutes. Lisicki took a 5 minute break to cool off in the locker room. She only delivered 54% of her first serves. .
The German tried to push harder in the second set, but Bartoli was too strong. The French completey outplayed Lisicki and secured 3 three break points. Lisicki was literally on the verge of a meltdown. The French clearly dominated the game and broke the German again in game 12. However, Lisicki came back, just like many times before. She raised her game and finally broke Bartoli in game 15. Bartolli, however, took the set and secured her first ever Grand Slam victory after 1h and 21 minutes.
Lisicki was a great runner-up, but was clearly overwhelmed about the situation. However, she will have a bright future. The men’s final between Murray and Djorkovic will take place on Sunday, July 7th. Wimbledon final tickets are still available.