Sabine Lisicki became the first German woman since 1999 to reach a Grand Slam final when she defeated Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4 2-6 9-7 on Thursday in a thrilling Wimbledon semi-final.
The 24th seed Lisicki will face France’s 15th-seeded Marion Bartoli, the 2007 runner-up, in Saturday’s title match looking to become Germany’s first champion at a major since Steffi Graf beat Martina Hingis to claim the 1999 French Open.
Graf was also the last German to reach a final at a major when she was runner-up to Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon that same year.
But 23-year-old Lisicki, the smiling darling of the All England Club crowd, did it the hard way.
She was a set and a break ahead before an astonishing collapse put her 0-3 down in the decider with errors flying off both sides.
But Lisicki, who put out five-time champion Serena Williams in the fourth round, mounted an astonishing and memorable fightback against a player who made the semi-final having spent three hours more on court.
She finished with nine aces and 60 winners which compensated for the 46 unforced errors she sent down, a worthwhile price for her all-out assault.
“It’s unbelievable. The last few games were so exciting. We were both fighting and it was a real battle,” said Lisicki, who had received a ‘good luck’ text from Graf ahead of the match.
“Even when I was down 3-0 in the final set, I still believed that I could win, no matter what the score was,” added the 2011 semi-finalist.
Bartoli stormed into her second Wimbledon final by crushing Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens 6-1 6-2.
Bartoli was beaten by Venus Williams in her only previous Grand Slam final appearance but she finally has another chance to win a first major title after demolishing Flipkens in just 62 minutes on Centre Court.
“It feels so great. Kirsten had an amazing run and played some unbelievable matches. She was a bit injured today and that must be hard in the semi-finals of Wimbledon,” the 28-year-old said.
“I gave her a hug because I wanted to show her respect.”
Bartoli said she is playing better and better, having made the final without dropping a set.
“I saw the ball like a football. I was hitting it really cleanly, my footwork was sharp, my passing shots and lobs worked perfectly.”
Tormented by injuries and illness in recent months, Bartoli has enjoyed one of the best spells of her career over the past two weeks.
Flipkens looked drained by her three-set win over Petra Kvitova in the previous round and Bartoli made her pay, hitting 23 winners compared to just 10 from the Belgian 20th seed.
Bartoli failed to even make the last 16 at the Australian and French Opens this year and this was her first Grand Slam last four appearance since Roland Garros in 2011.
But she had stunned another Belgian, Justine Henin, in her previous Wimbledon semi-final six years ago and once again she produced a superb display on the big occasion.
Bartoli, now coached by 2006 Wimbledon winner Amelie Mauresmo instead of her father Walter, used her piercing returns and accurate ground-strokes to overwhelm Flipkens, who was making her Grand Slam semi-final debut aged 27.