Marion Turns It Around

Coming into the US Open, Marion Bartoli was far below her best, the Frenchwoman having struggled the entire season to put together a decent run, especially in the majors. Having missed the Olympics due to a disagreement with the French Federation, Marion had more time to focus on her hardcourt preparation, but even so her performances were mixed. Except for the Carlsbad final which she lost to Dominika Cibulkova, there were few results to really stand out. As a consequence of her ups-and-downs, she dropped out of the top 10 and was threatening to drift further apart from the world's greatest. 

Feisty as ever though, Bartoli refused to give up and, at a rather surprising event, she finally got the result she was striving for. So far Flushing Meadows has been her most unsuccessful Slam, her best results being two fourth round showings in 2007 (l. to Serena Williams) and 2008 (l. to Sybille Bammer). The draw was kinder with her this year, and after some routine wins in the first three rounds, the Frenchwoman went head-to-head with the US Open Series winner, Czech Petra Kvitova, in the last 16. Although Marion was successful in their first two encounters (among them the 2011 Eastbourne final), the two faced off just a couple of weeks ago in Montreal and Kvitova was ruthless, dropping only two games to completely blown her opponent of the court. As the encounter began, many were expecting the same outcome with the Czech rising to a 6-1,1-0 lead. However, something clicked at that stage for Marion who suddenly started to find her shots, and, as she has done so many times in her career, she proved you just cannot write her off. Her solid game was too much for Petra to handle and Bartoli marched towards the finish line to wrap up a sensational 1-6,6-2,6-0 victory. Kvitova was coming off an incredible North American swing, having collected titles in Montreal and New Haven and made it to the semis in Cincinnati

Courtesy of the win, Marion has now completed her career Grand Slam quarterfinal collection. She goes on to face the French Open champion, Maria Sharapova, next.

In what was a sensational comeback, Marion Bartoli came back from the loss of the first set to lose just two more games in a stunning 1-6,6-2,6-0 win over Czech Petra Kvitova.

photos (top-down): GETTY IMAGES (x2), Reuters