Bartoli sweeps past Flipkens to enter Wimbledon finals

TENNIS-GBR-WIMBLEDON

Marion Bartoli brought her power game to the fore as she hammered Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium to reach her second ever Wimbledon final on Thursday.

The 15th seeded French woman unleashed her fearsome flat groundstrokes as she powered past Flipkens in just over an hour, to record a facile 6-1, 6-2 win.

Bartoli, who has been in fine form the entire tournament, broke Flipkens in the latter’s first service game as she asserted her dominance right from the start, not allowing the Belgian any freedom to play her strokes. She then broke the 20th seed once again as she wrapped up the first set in 27 minutes.

The second set started like the first as Bartoli raced to 3-0 lead, before Flipkens had the match stopped due to a knee injury.

Even the medically-enforced break could not save her from the inevitable loss that loomed over her head, as Bartoli showed no signs of slowing down after the delay. A smash from Bartoli ended Flipkens’a misery as the French national coasted home on the first of her two match points to book her place into the final.

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