The final of the 2011 Bank of the West Classic will take place on Sunday, July 31 and will be a rematch of a Wimbledon 2011 fourth round encounter.
Serena Williams will play against Marion Bartoli of France for the title. Williams, currently ranked 169th in the world, swept past Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-1, 6-2. Bartoli, on the other hand, advanced to the final without having to play the match after her opponent Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova withdrew from the other semifinal because of strained abdominal muscle.
“She should be fresh and I will be ready,” Williams said of Bartoli.
“It’s a whole new match and I’m a better player than I was at Wimbledon. This is great progress and I’m excited about my potential as I go forward,” she added.
Williams failed to defend the Wimbledon title for the third straight year after she was eliminated by Bartoli in the fourth round.
“This has never happened to me but there’s not much I can do about it,” Bartoli said.
“It’s a shame Dominika had to be put out. It will be an extremely tough match tomorrow and I need to get ready,” the Frenchwoman added.
