Wimbledon 2013: Marion Bartoli crushes Sabine Lisicki to claim Wimbledon title

The Frenchwoman defeats the 23 seed in just 81 minutes to claim her maiden Grand Slam title

Steve Tongue
Saturday 06 July 2013 16:00 BST
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Marion Bartoli celerbrates her Wimbledon title after defeating Sabine Lisicki
Marion Bartoli celerbrates her Wimbledon title after defeating Sabine Lisicki

Marion Bartoli of France won a disappointingly one-sided women's final in only 81 minutes to become a Grand Slam champion for the first time by mauling Sabine Lisicki 6-1, 6-4.

Lisicki had been brushing away tears at one stage of the match as it became clear that she was facing humiliation in the biggest match of her life. Only then, trailing 1-6, 1-5 did she rally, perhaps with memories of coming back from apparently hopeless situations to beat Serena Williams and Agnieszka Radwanska. 

 The first set flew by in exactly half an hour, at which point the German opted for a bathroom break to try to compose herself. It appeared to have little effect as her game if anything became worse, conceding two match points with one more dreadful error.

At last she pulled herself together, winning three successive games but losing when Bartoli set up three more Championship points with a cross-court forehand and finished things off in the grand manner with an ace.

Lisicki was in tears again at the end of the match as she told the Centre Court crowd: "I was just overwhelmed by the whole situation but credit to Marion, who handled it perfectly. I hope I'll get the chance one more time. I still love this tournament so much and this court."

Bartoli said: "I dreamed about this moment for so long. Iknow how it feels, Sabine, and I'm sure you will be there one more time. When I started out on Court 14 if you'd told me I'd be in the final I wouldn't have believed you."

The eccentric Bartoli is the first woman in the open era to win Wimbledon without playing any of the top ten seds. She also beats Jana Novotna's record for most number of Grand Slam tournaments played before winning a first title: this was her 47th. She wins £1.6m as the champion.

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