Marion Bartoli said it was a dream come true after causing one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history by beating top seed Justine Henin in the semi-finals. Bartoli, 22, recovered from a set and a break down to stun Henin on Centre Court, ending the world No 1's bid for a career grand slam. Few had given the 18th seed any chance of victory, and a routine win looked on the cards when Henin raced through the first set in just 22 minutes.
But Bartoli, who had won just four matches in four previous visits to SW19, staged an amazing fightback to record a 1-6 7-5 6-1 victory and will face three-time champion Venus Williams in today's final. Williams swept into her sixth Wimbledon singles final on Centre Court with a 6-2 6-4 victory over gutsy sixth seed Ana Ivanovic. Bartoli bizarrely credited her victory to seeing former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the Royal Box.
She said: "It was very hard, my game was not on at all in the first set. "Then I saw Pierce Brosnan, he is one of my favourite actors so I thought it would be good to play a bit of tennis. "I said to myself, 'it's not possible I play so bad in front of him'.
I saw he was cheering for me. "I was focusing on him because he is so beautiful. I tried to play a little better and here I am.
"I tried to focus on the ball and forget who I was playing and where I was playing. "I'm so excited to be in the final, it's like a dream come true. If you told me that before the tournament I would not have trusted you.
" Nor would most other sane people, but reaching the semi-finals of grass court tournaments in Birmingham and Eastbourne – where she ironically lost 6-1 6-3 to Henin – gave some indication of her abilities. "For the moment I don't realise really what I'm doing right now in this tournament," admitted the Frenchwoman, who was watched by her coach and father, Dr "Last week when I saw the draw I was worried about my first round match against Flavia Pennetta and now I'm in the final." "I played a very good first set, then I had a couple of chances at the end of the second set, didn't take these chances and the match completely turned over.
"She's playing an unbelievable tournament. She was confident. She was never scared of winning the match or anything.
She took the opportunities." Marion Bartoli said it was a dream come true after causing one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history by beating top seed Justine Henin in the semi-finals.
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