Bartoli Set for Wimbledon Semis Showdown With Flipkens
The last American woman left in the draw, Sloane Stephens, was defeated in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon on Tuesday, falling to Marion Bartoli of France in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5. There was a long rain delay right before the end of the first set that halted play. When the players came back on court, Bartoli broke Stephens right away to take the first set.
The second set was a different story, with more breaks than holds by both players, but Bartoli was able to hold and then break Stephens at 6-5 to win the match. For Sloane Stephens making it to the quarterfinals was her best result at Wimbledon so far. She had played a lot of tennis leading up to this match, with every match except her first round going to three sets.
Bartoli has had an easier ride to this year’s semifinals because she has not dropped a set the whole tournament. With some of the bigger names and top players out of the draw, Bartoli has taken advantage of the situation and is playing strong tennis. Bartoli’s seminfinals opponent will be Kirsten Flipkens from Belgium, a 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 winner over former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. Fortunately this match was on Centre Court, so the rain did not delay this match. With many of the top women’s players out of the tournament, Kvitova was one of the favorites to win the tournament.
Kvitova came out strong by winning the first set, but Flipkens rallied back to take the second and third sets. Kvitova had 41 winners and 28 unforced errors to show off her aggressive game. The former Wimbledon champ did not have the results she wanted, but Flipkens came out stronger in the last two sets.
Before this tournament, Flipkens best result at Wimbledon came in 2009 when she made it to the third round. This is also her best result at any Grand Slam event; her previous best result was making it to the fourth round at the Australian Open. She only made five unforced errors in the match against Kvitova and she stayed steady to come through with a win. Her next opponent will be Marion Bartoli of France.
