Bartoli Stuns Venus in Stanford Final

Even though she had defeated two hot opponents on her way to the final, few gave Marion Bartoli a chance of winning the whole thing.

And why should they have? Bartoli was facing Venus Williams, who had dropped only five games total in her last four sets, routing Maria Sharapova in the quarters 6-2, 6-2, and Elena Dementieva in the semis 6-0, 6-1.  Bartoli, on the other hand, had to save two match points vs. Jelena Jankovic in her quarterfinal, before scraping to win it 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-3.  She then barely made it through unseeded Samantha Stosur 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, with Stosur looking to be in complete control of the match before feeling the effects of a back injury.

But on Sunday Bartoli completely outplayed the five-time Wimbledon champion Williams, beating her 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to secure the biggest title of the Frenchwoman's career.

Bartoli started the match incredibly well, breaking the biggest server in the WTA four of the first five times on her way out to a 6-2, 5-3 lead.  But her nerves, as she admitted during the match to her coach/father Walter Bartoli, took over, and she dropped four straight games to lose the second 7-5.

But, to the surprise of just about everyone, Bartoli refused to wilt quietly in the third, instead breaking Williams twice in the third to take it 6-3.  Bartoli won an incredible 9 of 10 points in the third on Venus' second serve, which helped her cause enormously.

Wasn't a totally bad day for Williams in the end, as she paired with her sister Serena to take home the doubles title, their first WTA level doubles title since 1999.  They beat surprise finalists Monica Niculescu and Yung-Jan "Latisha" Chan 6-4, 6-1

A lot of jokes have been made about Bartoli's once unathletic physique (read: chunky), but she's in much better shape now.  She was able to hang with Williams in a lot of long rallies that she would have dropped out of early as recently as last year.  Bartoli has also completely changed her service motion since losing to Venus in the 2007 Wimbledon final, making it now much more consistent and formidable. 

Bartoli is still a completely unpredictable quantity so it's too early to make bold predictions about her chances at the US Open, but she's definitely now atop the list of darkhorses.