Today at 9:00 a.m. on ESPN, Wimbledon's darling, and the newest sensation in women's tennis, No. 23 Sabine Lisicki will face off against No. 15 Marion Bartoli in the final. Lisicki vs. Bartoli can be live streamed here.
In a Grand Slam full of upsets in both the men's and women's draws, Lisicki pulled off perhaps the most shocking, using a powerful serve to topple No. 1 Serena Williams who came into their battle on a 34-match winning streak.
In the semifinal, Lisicki took on No. 4 Agnieska Radwanska, and was two points away from losing two different times before rallying for a 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 win that catapulted her to the final. "I just fought with all my heart," Lisicki said. "I believed that I could still win, no matter what the score was."
Lisicki's run has been made even more special by the joy with which she wins. Her smile has become the lasting image of Wimbledon 2013; she has said that this is her favorite event to play in. The stats back it up-she has made four straight Wimbledon quarterfinals. Even more incredibly, Lisicki is allergic to grass.
Her opponent, Bartoli, is no slouch. She dominated her semifinal opponent, No. 20 Kirsten Flipkins in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. After getting bludgeoned by Bartoli, who like Lisicki plays her best at Wimbledon, Flipkins said, "I had to play, I don't know, 500 percent, I think, to beat Marion today. She was just too good."
Lisicki and Bartoli combine for the lowest-seeded final in Wimbledon history, and are also comprising the first final in the Open era that pitted two players who have never won a Grand Slam trophy against one another.
Radwanska was blunt when asked of her opinion of the final--"In the beginning of the tournament, no one, I think, (expected) those names in the semis or in the finals."
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