New Delhi: Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli caused a major upset in women's singles at the Wimbledon when she beat world No 1 Justine Henin in the semi-finals on Friday.
The 22-year-old Bartoli, who is the first double-fisted forehand player to make it to the finals at Wimbledon since Monica Seles, will meet triple champion Venus Williams of USA in the final on Saturday.
The semi-final between Justin Henin and Bartoli started on expected lines with the world No 1 winning the first set 6-1.
At that point it looked that Justin would make it to the final easily destroying the world No 19.
However, Bartoli proved everyone wrong by bouncing back in the second set surprising the top seed.
She won her points with well-placed shots making her Belgian opponent move around the court.
Even after seeing Justin lose the second set 5-7, the crowd at Wimbledon still believed that she would pull it back.
But that was not to be as Bartoli pulled out the biggest upset winning the third set 6-1.
"I saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd and he is one of my favourite actors so I tried to tried to play more smartly. I saw him cheering for me so I said 'Oh' maybe it is good. So I kept going and I won," Bartoli said after the match.
On the other hand 23rd seed Venus Williams made it to the finals at Wimbledon for the sixth time beating Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic in straight sets 6-2, 6-4 on Friday.
Ranked 31, Venus is the lowest-ranked player to reach the women's final since computer rankings began in 1975.
Her semi-final against the French Open finalist was one-sided as the American had no trouble in booking her place in the final.
Venus has been in superb form throughout the tournament and it showed in the semi-final against Ivanovic.
The first set was over even before Ivanovic could realise what was happening and though she was able to win four games in the second but Williams was in no mod to let a place in the final slip away.
"There were conditions of rains and winds so I felt I had to play my best tennis against some of the best players," Venus said.
Venus will be looking to etch her name on the trophy for the fourth but Wimbledon this year may well have a new winner in Bartoli.
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