STANFORD, CA, USA - In a Sunday afternoon shocker, Marion Bartoli won her fifth and biggest career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title at the Bank of the West Classic, upsetting Venus Williams in three sets in the final.
Bartoli, seeded No.8 at the Premier-level tournament, didn't have it easy at all throughout the week, winning her opening rounds in tight two-setters then going to three sets in the quarters and semis, defeating No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic and Samantha Stosur, 36 76(3) 63 and 63 16 61, respectively. She even saved two match points against Jankovic, whilst trailing 63 65.
Williams, seeded No.2 and a two-time winner at Stanford in the past, was out of sorts through the first set and a half of the final, going behind 62 53 before kicking into gear with four straight games, pushing the duel to two hours and 43 minutes before finally succumbing, 62 57 64. It was just their second meeting on the Tour - their first came in the final of Wimbledon two years ago, with Williams prevailing routinely there on her favorite grass courts, 64 61.
"It was really hard mentally to win the second set, because it was getting tighter and tighter... when I served for the match, she sensed I was tight, and she started coming up with big winners," Bartoli said. "I just tried to stay positive and focused in the third set. We had some great rallies in the third set. It was so hard to win the last game. The only chance to win that was to take my chances, because otherwise Venus wouldn't give me anything. I gave everything I had today."
"Marion played really well today. I have to give her credit for playing so well," Williams said. "I was fighting myself out there as well as her. It was a tough day. I had to fight through it and in the end I ran out of time. My last few matches were so good, but today I just couldn't execute the way I wanted."
Bartoli's first four singles titles on the Tour came at smaller events, at Auckland, Tokyo and Quebec City in 2006 and Monterrey earlier this season.
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