Marion Bartoli captured the first grand slam title of her career after defeating Sabine Lisicki in the Women's Singles final at 2013 Wimbledon. She easily breezed by Lisicki, who had trouble finding her serve and strokes from the onset of the match.
With a booming ace that popped up chalk off the court, Bartoli put away Lisicki to win the title. The final score was 6-1, 6-4. She immediately ran over to her box to thank and hug her father and supporters.
It became a dramatic match in the second set. Bartoli could feel the victory coming in the seventh game of the set when she started stretching and whacking her tennis racket in the air. However, Lisicki waited a little over an hour to start playing tennis at a high level. Bartoli seemed to press as Lisicki's forehand was working. It wouldn't have been a decent championship without some dramatics.
Lisicki faced elimination down 1-5. Bartoli couldn't get the ball where she wanted and Lisicki cut down on her errors. In a blink of an eye, Bartoli saw a 1-5 lead shrink to 4-5. Bartoli put the match away in the 10th game as she found her serve and found perfect angles.
Had Lisicki shown up in the first sets of the match, the result could have been completely different.
The first set saw Lisicki struggle heavily. She looked fatigued, slow and confused. Aided by 14 unforced errors in the first set, Bartoli had no trouble defeating Lisicki, who couldn't hold serve in her first three opportunities. It looked as though Bartoli was in trouble as she committed a double fault in the first game and couldn't hold serve. Lisicki didn't capitalize, and never led again in the first set.
Lisicki finally came through in the second set as she held her serve for the first time in the match. She had the advantage in four of their five deuces played in the second game, but she failed to take advantage and Bartoli tied the set 1-1.
Two games later, Lisicki was down 1-3 and trying to hold serve once again. Lisicki's emotions began pouring through in the fifth game after wasting leads repeatedly. Lisicki placed her racket in front of her face and began to gently weep. This went on for about five seconds and they cheered her on as the German once again could not hold.
In the meantime, Bartoli went for the kill. She won four straight points in the following set to take the dominant 5-1 lead and all she could do was smell blood. She quickly held a 15-40 lead only to see the German rally back to push for a deuce. Lisicki rose to the occasion and with the crowd behind her, finally get her serve over the net effectively.
All in all, Lisicki won the ace battle, but she committed five double faults and totaled 25 unforced errors, playing her worst tennis in the biggest moment.
It is Bartoli's first grand slam title in her 13-year career.
