Wimbledon: Lisicki sets up challenging final with Bartoli

German player stuns fourth-seed Radwanska in thrilling semi.

LONDON: Sabine Lisicki became the first German woman since 1999 to reach a Grand Slam final when she defeated Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 yesterday in a thrilling Wimbledon semi-final.

The 23rd-seed Lisicki will face France’s 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli, the 2007 runner-up, in Saturday’s title match looking to become Germany’s first champion at a major since Steffi Graf beat Martina Hingis to claim the 1999 French Open.

Graf was also the last German to reach a final at a major when she was runner-up to Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon that same year.

But 23-year-old Lisicki, the smiling darling of the All England Club crowd, did it the hard way.



She was a set and a break ahead before an astonishing collapse put her 3-0 down in the decider with errors flying off both sides.

But Lisicki, who put out five-time champion Serena Williams in the fourth round, mounted an astonishing and memorable fightback against a player who made the semi-final having spent three hours more on court.

She finished with nine aces and 60 winners which compensated for the 46 unforced errors she sent down, a worthwhile price for her all-out assault.

“It’s unbelievable. The last few games were so exciting. We were both fighting and it was a real battle,” said Lisicki, who had received a ‘good luck’ text from Graf ahead of the match. “Even when I was down 3-0 in the final set, I still believed that I could win, no matter what the score was.”

Bartoli registers comfortable win

The Frenchwoman stormed into her second Wimbledon final as the French 15th seed crushed Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-1, 6-2.

Bartoli was beaten by Venus Williams in her only previous Grand Slam final appearance at Wimbledon in 2007, but she finally has another chance to win a first major title after demolishing Flipkens in just 62 minutes on Centre Court.

“I just can’t believe it, I played so well today,” said Bartoli. “It feels so great. Kirsten had an amazing run and played some unbelievable matches. She was a bit injured today and that must be hard in the semi-finals of Wimbledon.”

She said she was playing better and better, having made the final without dropping a set.

Bartoli, tormented by injuries and illness in recent months, has enjoyed one of the best spells of her career over the last two weeks.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 5^th, 2013.

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