Friday, 6 July, 2007
The eleventh day of the 2007 Championships not only saw the sun finally come out and allow Wimbledon to bask in the sunshine of some outstanding tennis, but there was also a distinctly Gallic flavour to the proceedings. On a day where the men's quarter-finals were crammed into the same schedule as the ladies' semi-finals, France's Marion Bartoli and Richard Gasquet dominated proceedings, with both recovering from losing causes to produce stunning wins. Bartoli in particular recorded the shock result of the tournament, with a gutsy victory over top seeded Justine Henin in the ladies’ semis. After being moved from No.1 Court to Centre, the 18th seed came back from a set behind and a break down in the second set, to hustle and bustle past Henin, 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a quite extraordinary match. Bartoli will play Venus Williams in Saturday’s final after the 23rd seeded American produced a powerful performance earlier in the day, during her 6-2, 6-4 victory against Ana Ivanovic of Serbia. Soon after Bartoli’s win, there was yet more French drama to come, when Gasquet also came back from behind – two sets this time – to defeat the third seeded Andy Roddick, 4-6, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-6 in a tense and gripping encounter on No.1 Court. Gasquet will next play Roger Federer in Saturday’s semi-final, after the defending champion recovered from a mid-match wobble where he dropped a set against Juan Carlos Ferrero, to eventually ease to a four set win. The other men’s semi-final will be between Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic who enjoyed wildly different fortunes on court today. Whereas Nadal dismissed Tomas Berdych in straight sets on Centre Court, Djokovic was made to work hard for his place in the final four. The day after his four-hour win over Lleyton Hewitt, the Serb was once again forced to work overtime on No.1 Court in a marathon five hour, five-setter against Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus. Elsewhere, the outside courts were buzzing with activity throughout the day, as the Wimbledon referees desperately tried to get the tournament back on schedule. Over 100 matches behind schedule at the start of the day, there was a slew of activity in the junior events and the doubles, with many players not only playing twice in the day, but some playing three or even four times. By the end of the day, the tournament was only 35 matches behind where it should be and given some good weather over the next couple of days, there is every possibility that Wimbledon will end on Sunday as planned. Written by David Bates
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