4th Jul 2013 | Wimbledon
Bartoli v Flipkins Tip
It may look like a battle of 2 total outsiders but the French lady has all the big match experience.
This year’s Wimbledon has been one of the craziest in memory but at some point, surely, the madness has to stop. Kirsten Flipkens was a 500/1 shot about a week ago and now she is nothing longer than 15/2 (PaddyPower) to go all the way.
The Belgian pulled off a stunning three-set triumph over former champion Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals where she only made five unforced errors all day. Compare that to 20 in round four and you can see she had a special day, perhaps a one-off.
Marion Bartoli reached the final here in 2007 and that experience could be critical on Thursday afternoon. She is yet to drop a set en route to the semi-finals and our statistical analysis suggests she will be back on Centre Court on Saturday. The number 15 seed beat a very dangerous opponent in Sloane Stephens in the last eight and should have nothing to fear.
The 28-year-old has a ferocious return of serve which has seen her break opponents 25 times already in these Championships; nobody else in the last four can compete with that. Flipkins doesn’t have a fearsome serve at any rate.
The French woman looks best equipped to handle the big occasion having played in five Grand Slam quarter-finals before, two semis, and of course one final at SW19. This is totally unchartered territory for Flipkins and I think she has already played the match of her life.
I’m backing Bartoli to win 2-0 for a sixth time out of six at best odds of 8/5 with BetVictor.
Odds correct at time of publishing: 12:48 4th Jul, 2013 but subject to change