WTA Sony Ericsson Open, Miami Florida, USA
M. Bartoli vs V. Williams | Semis
1:00 PM ET
When Marion Bartoli, the French woman who will meet Venus Williams in a Sony Ericsson semifinal Thursday, played Williams for the first time in the 2007 Wimbledon final, she gave credit to actor Pierce Brosnan for helping her advance to that point.
``Well, to tell you the truth, as I said on BBC a few minutes ago, I saw Pierce Brosnan in the crowd, which is one of my favorite actors,'' Bartoli said after coming back from a 1-6 deficit to defeat then-world No. 1 Justine Henin to advance to the Grand Slam final.
``I love his movies. I said to myself, `It's not possible I play so bad in front of him' . . . So I try to feel it a bit more the ball, play more smartly. I saw he was cheering for me, so I said, `Oh, maybe it's good.'
``I kept going and I won, so maybe a little bit for Pierce Brosnan.''
Bartoli lost to Williams in that Wimbledon final -- Brosnan sent her a bouquet of flowers but he missed the match to attend a wedding -- but she defeated her 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 last August during a tournament in Stanford, Calif.