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Marion Bartoli rose to the occasion on Sunday to beat Venus Williams 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in the Bank of the West Classic final in front of a record crowd of 3,852. In a marathon three set match that lasted two hours and 43 minutes, and was characterized by breaks of serve on both sides, Bartoli outlasted Williams who had played in the semifinals of both the singles and doubles draw the day before. This is Bartoli's first Premier-level title on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

"I was pretty confident going into the final because I had four good wins this week, especially in the last two matches against Jelena (Jankovic) and Samantha (Stosur)", said Bartoli. "Jelena is in the top-10 and Samantha is maybe a future top-10, so it was alr eady good mentally for me to be in the final and have beaten those types of players."

Bartoli indicated after yesterday's semifinal win over Samantha Stosur that her serve would be key to the match and her prediction proved true. She led Williams in first serve conversion rate, 65 percent to 61 percent but the real difference came on second serve, with Bartoli winning 52 percent of the time, to Williams' 35 percent. Williams did have eight aces, but Bartoli's sole ace at match point was the only one that counted.

Williams agreed that Bartoli was at the top of her game today. "She strokes the ball well from the ground," commented Williams. "She definitely executes her game well, at least today. I think today was definitely one of the best games that I've seen her play."

The previous and only other time Williams and Bartoli had played was in the 2007 Wimbledon finals, a match that Williams won 6-4, 6-1. Regarding the difference in the two matches, Bartoli said, "Since that Wimbledon final, I think my experience has been growing. I know what to do at the big points and I know what my strengths are. I have improved my weaknesses as well, such as my movement. I think that's part of the reason I had such a great match today because I was able to move, move, move."

Bartoli started off strong in the first set, winning 6-2, but seemed to tire at the end of the second set as Williams, down 4-2, rallied to win, 7-5. But Williams couldn't capitalize on the momentum she generated and immediately went down 3-1 in the third. She managed to get close and rallied to 5-4, but Bartoli held serve to win the game, set and match 6-4 on an ace, her only one of the day.

Overall, Bartoli broke Williams six times, to Williams' four breaks, and overcame Williams' 54 winners to her own 16. Williams, however, led in unforced errors with 59, while Bartoli came in at 23. Williams also committed thirteen double faults, eight more than Bartoli.

This is the second year in a row that Bartoli has played herself into the finals of the Bank of the West Classic. In the 2008 tournament she lost to Alexandra Wozniak in two sets (5-7, 3-6), but this year was different.

In her championship quest, Bartoli dispatched Samantha Stosur, fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic, and the upstart American, 17-year old Melanie Oudin, who reached the fourth round of Wimbledon this year.

Venus Williams might have come up short in her bid for a third Bank of the West Classic singles title. However, she still managed to walk away with one championship trophy.

An hour after falling shy in a three-set loss to Marion Bartoli in the tournament's singles title match, Venus and sister Serena cruised to a 6-4, 6-1 victory in the doubles final over the team of Yung-Jan Chan and Monica Niculescu.

The title was the third this year for the Williams sisters, as the duo also captured the crowns at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. It is the 15th championship overall for the Williams sisters and the first non-Grand Slam doubles title since 1999.

Final Scores:

Marion Bartoli (FRA) def. Venus Williams (USA) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4
Venus Williams (USA)/ Serena Williams (USA) def. Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/ Monica Niculescu (ROU) 6-4, 6-1

File Photograph: German Open