Marion Bartoli ousts Serena Williams in fourth round – Wimbledon Championships 2011
Defending champion Serena Williams fell to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in straight sets in their fourth round match at the 2011 Wimbledon Championships in London, England on Monday, 27th June.
The Frenchwoman took almost two hours to secure a 6-3, 7-6(8) victory over the defending champion.
In their second straight Grand Slam meeting – third for the career, Bartoli avenged her 2010 US Open defeat as she reduced the deficit in her head-to-head series snapping Serena’s two match winning streak.
Their first match on grass, Bartoli won the toss and opened serve successfully. However, matching blow for blow Serena followed closely at her heels as the two pros continued to win on their service keeping the score tied for the
first four games. Leading 3-2, Bartoli hit powerful winners and capitalised on Serena’s errant strokes to clinch a lucky break, extending her lead to 4-2. A successful hold of serve later Bartoli was leading the set 5-2 with only one game away from a lead
in the set score. Serving for the set at 5-3, Bartoli wrapped up the set win with a powerful ace after six deuces.
Down but not out, Serena still managed to hold her own in the second set as she forced the scoreboard to tick on even terms. Standing at a tied five games each, Bartoli clinched a lucky break in the eleventh game to lead the set
6-5. However, Serena broke back in the next game to push the set into a tiebreaker.
The tiebreaker also progressed on even terms as the score remained tied for the first twelve points. However, a mini-break put Bartoli in the lead at 7-6 as she hit a powerful winner down the line to clinch the tiebreaker 8-6,
sealing her straight sets victory.
Bartoli moves on ahead to play German Sabine Lisicki in the quarterfinals. Lisicki moves on ahead after defeating Petra Cetkovska in straight sets registering a 7-6(3), 6-1 win against the lower ranked Czech.
Tags: