Bartoli Advances to Wimbledon Finals

WIMBLEDON, England — Marion Bartoli said earlier this week that being at Wimbledon put a smile on her face.

She needed the boost. It has been a challenging and inconsistent year, as she went through various coaching changes and battled various injuries and ailments. Before Thursday, she had not played in a semifinal of a tournament this year.

But before her match against Kirsten Flipkens, Bartoli was so relaxed she took a 30-minute nap. When she got to Centre Court, she was in complete control.

Intense and aggressive throughout, standing inside the baseline even when returning first serves, Bartoli defeated Flipkens, 6-1, 6-2. It lasted just a little over an hour, a performance almost as dominant as Serena Williams’s 6-0, 6-1 victory in 46 minutes over Sara Errani at the French Open semifinals last month.

“Today, really, I saw the ball like a football ball,” Bartoli said in her postmatch interview with the BBC.

Bartoli, 28, advanced to her first Grand Slam final since being the runner-up at 2007 Wimbledon. Flipkens was in her first Grand Slam semifinal Thursday, and it showed.

She was broken in the second game of the match and never seemed to get comfortable. She seemed to be bothered by her knee and needed a medical timeout in the middle of the second set.

The crowd was on Flipkens’s side, with her serve-and-volley style and inspiring comeback story. A year ago, Flipkens was ranked No. 262 after missing two months when blood clots were discovered in her legs. She has risen to the No. 20 ranking and will break into the top 20 after this tournament.

But Bartoli prevented Flipkens from playing her style, then flustering her few net attempts with perfect lobs. Bartoli was even the better net player during the match, with several volley winners.

Bartoli was emotional at the end of the match, but commented afterward how much fun she was having with the team that replaced her father as her coach. It includes the former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo.

“So far we are having so much fun outside of the court as well,” Bartoli said. “Before the match we were laughing and making jokes.”

Bartoli, the No. 15 seed, has not faced a seed higher than No. 17 Sloane Stephens, winning the half of the draw vacated by No. 2 Victoria Azarenka and No. 3 Maria Sharapova. In the final, she will play either No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska or No. 23 Sabine Lisicki.

This is the first time in the open era that the four semifinalists at Wimbledon were seeking their first Grand Slam title.