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The name's Bartoli – Marion Bartoli

Continued

Cynthia Lum/WireImage.com

Richard Gasquet will face Roger Federer, whom he has beaten once in six matches, in the semis.

Bartoli is coached by her father, a doctor called Walter Bartoli. He introduced her to tennis at six, and has been her only coach. To some, it's a lovely relationship of daughter adoring father – "he's a very good doctor, a very good tennis coach, and a very good father" she said after beating Henin – while to others it's an overprotective set-up which allows no dissent, involves some highly intensive training routines, and makes Walter as indispensable as Marion. With Marion saying she will not play Fed Cup unless her father is on the coaching staff, and the French captain Georges Goven saying the Fed Cup is a team rather than a collection of individuals, there is currently no place for the Wimbledon finalist.

The biggest feature of Bartoli's game is how she camps on the baseline; that also came from her father. "I used to practise in a hall with lots of lines for different sports," she said, "and my father used to make me stand with my back to the wall, so if I went too far back my racket would hit the wall. He also put a mark on the court, and if I hit that mark, he'd give me a candy. That's perhaps why I like candy too much."

Perhaps Jelena Jankovic, Michaella Krajicek and Henin all rather underestimated Bartoli. All won the first set, but found the unorthodox opponent got stronger as the matches went on. All waited for the letdown, the tightness within sight of victory, but it never came. In fact any tightness against Henin came in the opening set as Bartoli got used to the dimensions of the world's most revered tennis arena. But once she tapped into her best form towards the end of the second set, Henin had no answer. A typical rally had several shots where neither player seemed to have the advantage, but suddenly Bartoli unleashed a flat two-handed stroke, and Henin was left chasing the ball's shadow.

Seven games on the run turned 5-5 in the second set into 5-0 in the third. And James Bond had his role to play. "I saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd," she said, "and I told myself it's not possible I play so bad in front of him, it was unbelievable. So I tried to feel the ball, play more smartly, and I saw he was cheering for me. So maybe it was a little bit for Pierce Brosnan."

Bartoli's win is clearly a milestone for her, but perhaps the bigger milestone for French tennis was Richard Gasquet's come-from-behind win over Andy Roddick to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal. Gasquet has been touted as the future of French tennis since he appeared at age nine – yes, nine – on the cover of France's principal tennis magazine. But in the past 18 months he has got stuck at around No. 15 in the rankings, and his results in the first half of this year have suggested he had no idea how to make the step up to the next level.

He seems to have stumbled on that step this fortnight. He reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set, but then went two sets down to Roddick. When Roddick served for the match at 5-4 in the third, it looked like being one to put down to experience for the 21-year-old. But his silky skills suddenly became effective as well as elegant, and as the match wore on, Gasquet looked more like a winner. A second break of Roddick's serve allowed the Frenchman to win 4-6, 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(3), 8-6. "I hope this is the beginning of my career," he said, "Maybe I played too well too early, and it was difficult living up to expectations."

Earlier this year, the French Davis Cup captain Guy Forget described Gasquet as "like a Ferrari – there's no shot Federer can play that Gasquet can't play." That will be put to the test Saturday when Gasquet takes on Federer for a place in the final. Federer looked far from impregnable in his 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over Juan Carlos Ferrero, though the gusting wind may have much to answer for as Federer lost his first set this Wimbledon.

In the bottom half of the draw, Rafael Nadal should have more gas in the tank for his semifinal against Novak Djokovic. Djokovic followed up his four-hour, 12-minute fourth-round win over Lleyton Hewitt with a five-hour victory over Marcos Baghdatis. Contrast that with Nadal's quick-fire straight sets win over Tomas Berdych, and the Spaniard looks the likeliest of the four semifinalists to reach Sunday's final.
Williams starts Saturday's women's final as favourite, after beating Ana Ivanovic 6-2, 6-4. Three-time champion Williams is in her sixth final in eight years. She dominated the match from the net – she won 18 of her 23 net approaches – along with the baseline.

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