Bartoli battles hard to win Eastbourne title
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LONDON (Reuters) - Sixth seed Marion Bartoli overcame blustery winds, a groin injury and a determined fightback from Czech Petra Kvitova to win the Eastbourne grasscourt Wimbledon warmup tournament 6-1 4-6 7-5 on Saturday.
After losing in the semi-finals on the English south coast for the last four years, the 26-year-old Frenchwoman held on to win a topsy-turvy final in two hours 15 minutes to complete her preparation for Wimbledon which starts on Monday.
"So it's great just to come up with a win. But, you know, it was a huge challenge again today."
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Bartoli was the first to master the windy conditions and breezed through the opening set in 30 minutes, with her 21-year-old opponent making a series of loose shots and unforced forehand errors.
But the match began to turn when Kvitova's coach David Kotyza came down from the stands to give her a few words of encouragement after a poor start and, whatever he said, it clearly worked.
She began to find her range and form, winning the next three games to lead 4-3 before holding on to take the second set in 44 minutes.
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Bartoli's control of the game seemed to ebb further away in the third game of the final set.
She went off for treatment to a groin strain but although she was limping the set went with serve until Bartoli took control again in the seventh game to lead 4-3 after fifth seed Kvitova served three double faults.
The Frenchwoman broke serve immediately to regain the lead and then held her serve to win when Kvitova landed a return wide.
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Bartoli, who had beaten Australia's Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-1 in the semi-final earlier on Saturday, said later her injury would not be a problem for Wimbledon.
Left-handed Kvitova was also in her second match of the day at the rain-hit event. She had earlier led Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 4-2 when the Slovak retired with an abdominal strain.
(Created by Mike Collett; Editing by Clare Fallon)