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Sports

Bartoli exits Bali; Lisicki into semis

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Bali, Indonesia – Top-seeded Marion Bartoli retired from her seeded German slugger Sabine Lisicki ending $600,000 Tournament of Champions.

Unseeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues was leading the former Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli 4-6, 7-6 (9-7), 1-0 when the Frenchwoman retired due to a right ankle injury suffered on the hardcourts at Bali's Westin Resort Nusa Dua. Medina Garrigues saved two match points in the second-set tiebreak, as she halted an 18-match losing streak against top-10 players.

"Even when I lost the first set I felt I was playing well, and in the second set I made maybe two unforced errors," Medina Garrigues said. "We were playing a very good match. It was about two and a half hours for just two sets, which is very close for indoors. I was hitting the ball really well. I never felt she could win the points easily. It was one of my best matches of the year, for sure."

"It was a little sad to finish like that," Medina Garrigues added. "I feel bad for Marion. Hopefully with holidays now she can recover and be better soon."

The world No. 9 Bartoli played as an alternate, and won a round-robin match, at last week's prestigious WTA Championships in Istanbul.

Medina Garrigues is rewarded with a semifinal match against the Wimbledon semifinalist Lisicki, who handled former top-10 Slovakian veteran Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 6-2 on Day 2 of this exclusive eight-woman event.

Lisicki and Medina Garrigues have never faced each other.

There were four seeded women in Bali, and only Lisicki was able to reach the final four. Four opening-round matches produced the four semifinalists at this four-day event.

Saturday's other semifinal will pit former world No. 1 and former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic against former top-10 performer Nadia Petrova. The Serbian Ivanovic is 6-5 lifetime against the Russian Petrova, including a 1-1 mark this season.

Ivanovic is the reigning Tournament of Champions titlist, having beaten Russian Alisa Kleybanova in last year's finale.

The winner of this $600,000 third-year tournament will collect $210,000. It features the six highest-ranked players who have won a title during the year but failed to qualify for the WTA Championships and two wild cards.