World No.14 Marion Bartoli of France beat seven-time Grand Slam champion and world No.3 Venus Williams 6-2 5-7 6-4, after 2 hours and 43 minutes of play in the final of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.
Bartoli took the first set and had a 5-3 lead in the second set, but didn’t manage to end the match then, and Wililams won the set 7-5 to take the encounter to the decider.
Bartoli established a 2-0 lead in the third set, but Williams later leveled at 3-3. Bartoli then broke Williams once again, the break which turned out to be crucial, as all the following games went with serve and Bartoli capitalized on her first match point, in the 10th game of the third set.
The last year’s Stanford finalist won her fifth WTA singles title and second this year, while Williams has now lost her fifth out of seven finals at the tournament.
As for the prize money, the winner earned $107,000 and the runner-up $56,000.
Additional info: Venus Williams is scheduled to play doubles final later today, partnered with sister Serena Williams, and against the pairing of Yung-Jan Chan and Monica Niculescu.
