Marion Bartoli wants to reach the Eastbourne final to carry the confidence through to Wimbledon next week.
French star gunning to avenge Stuttgart defeat
Marion Bartoli wants to reach the final of the International Women's Open at Eastbourne on Friday to carry the confidence through to Wimbledon next week.
The French star is in a second-successive semi-final at the Eastbourne tournament, where she will face Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska.
Last year she lost to Justine Henin at Eastbourne before going on to beat her at Wimbledon as she reached the final, where she missed out to Venus Williams.
Having overcome recent injuries, she is hoping for a good showing against Radwanska, whom she lost to in Stuttgart last year, to help her Wimbledon push.
Bartoli said: "I won the first set against Radwanska 6-0 in Germany but ended up losing in three.
Confidence
"If I keep playing like I have here, though, I think I have a great opportunity to reach the final and then carry that confidence through to Wimbledon next week.
"I like my game on grass because I have good hands and can take the ball early but I've had a tough time recently with injuries, the worst some tendinitis in my wrist caused by playing a three-hours-and-something match in Rome a few weeks ago with heavy balls like the men use.
"I came to Eastbourne after being knocked out first round as top seed and still felt tired and out of energy but then one day in practice it all came back and now I'm playing really well again."
The winner will play Nadia Petrova in the final after the Russian beat Australian Sam Stosur in the other semi-final.
