Henin's shock exit

Wimbledon has seen one of the greatest upsets in the tournament's history as France's Marion Bartoli beat top seed Justine Henin in the semi-finals.

Bartoli recovered from a set and a break down to stun Henin on Centre Court, ending the world number one's bid for a career Grand Slam.

Few had given the 18th seed any chance of victory, and a routine win looked on the cards when Henin raced through the first set in 22 minutes for the loss of just one game.

But Bartoli, who had won just four matches in four previous visits to Wimbledon, staged an amazing fightback to record a 1-6 7-5 6-1 victory and now faces three-time champion Venus Williams in tomorrow's final.

In earlier matches, the sunshine graced Wimbledon and Venus Williams plus the world's top two men took full advantage.

Williams is the first women to book her place in the final beating sixth-seeded Serb Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-4.

And the rare sight of the sun at this year's Wimbledon brought out the ruthless streaks in Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

After days of unrelenting rain at the grasscourt grand slam, the world's two best players continued to play catch up and stood only one match away from a final collision.

A merciless Nadal breezed past Czech Tomas Berdych, 7-6 6-4 6-2 in the quarter-final.

World number one Federer had a slightly more challenging task in victory over Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero.

Perhaps feeling a little rusty after a six day break - thanks to the withdrawal of fourth round opponent Tommy Haas - Federer dropped his first set of the championships, but that did not stop him from streaking to a 7-6 3-6 6-1 6-3 win.

The 25-year-old Swiss is now only two matches away from matching Bjorn Borg's feat of five successive Wimbledon crowns.

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