Marion Bartoli (photo ©Charlie Cowins) reached the final defeating Elina Svitolina, Christina McHale, Camila Giorgi, Karin Knapp, Sloane Stephens and Kirsten Flipkens. So far she lost no sets. This is her second Wimbledon final after the one she lost in 2007.

Sabine Lisicki reached the final defeating Francesca Schiavone, Elena Vesnina, Samantha Stosur, Serena Williams, Kaia Kanepi and Agnieszka Radwanska. So far she has lost three sets: one to Stosur, one to Williams and one to Radwanska. This is her first final in a Grand Slam tournament.

The match starts with a lot of tension from both players. Marion Bartoli basically gives away the first game due to bad serving with a double-fault on a break point but Sabine Lisicki does just the same in the next game. The French gets into the match while the German is still very nervous and can’t win her service game. Marion Bartoli ends up easily winning the first set 6-1.

After leaving the field for “physiological break”, Sabine Lisicki starts the second set winning her service game and in the second game she has a 4 break points but Marion Bartoli manages to win her service game. The German seems to quickly run out of the mental energy she had just found so she loses her service game in the third and fifth game. In the seventh game, Lisicki offers her opponent 3 match points but manages to win her service game and in the next game she breaks the French. Marion Bartoli holds her nerve and in the tenth game wins the second set 6-4 conquering the match and the Wimbledon title.

In this strange tournament where the favorites have lost one after the other and Azarenka withdrew due to an injury two outsiders reached the final. Unfortunately, the quality was quite low, partly because Marion Bartoli’s style isn’t exactly brilliant and in part because Sabine Lisicki was too nervous.

Sabine Lisicki finally had the chance to play for a Grand Slam title after her rise was slowed down by some serious injuries. She played a fantastic tournament in which she defeated last year’s finalists but in the final she failed to overcome her tension and played at a level well below her possibilities. If she keeps physically healthy, she may have other possibilities.

Honestly, Marion Bartoli plays the ugliest tennis I’ve ever seen, though over the years she’s become less unwatchable. In sport, however, the results is what matters and in this final the French totally outplayed her opponent from the mental point of view, playing most of the match near her best.

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