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Breakfast at Wimbledon Sets the Stage at 8 a.m. ET
USA’s Bryan Brothers Seek 15th Major Victory & Fourth in a Row in Gentlemen’s Doubles
All TV-Court Matches on ESPN3 including Saturday’s Girls’ Final with Taylor Townsend of Chicago
ESPN’s exclusive and all-live presentation of Wimbledon continues Saturday, July 6, with a Ladies’ Championship that guarantees a Wimbledon rarity, a first-time major champion – No. 15 Marion Bartoli vs. No. 23 Sabine Lisicki. It is only the fifth time the two will meet on the court; Lisicki leads 3-1 but the two have split a pair of matches at Wimbledon. Chris Fowler will call the match with three-time Wimbledon champion Chris Evert.
Breakfast at Wimbledon hosted by Hannah Storm starts the day off at 8 p.m. ET with one hour of reviews, previews, interviews, features and highlights. In addition, ABC will air an encore edition of The Ladies’ Championship at 3 p.m. ET (Noon PT).
“Did You Know?”
Traditionally, the big names in the sport have dominated the sacred sod the All England Lawn Tennis Club. This year, however, the Wimbledon Ladies’ Championship will go to a first-time major winner. In the last 47 years (1967-2012) 37 titles went to only seven women: Martina Navratilova – 9, Steffi Graf – 7, Billie Jean King – 6, Serena and Venus Williams – 5 each, Chris Evert – 3, Evonne Goolagong Cawley – 2. Of the other 10 winners, seven were multiple-Grand Slam title winners in their career (topped by Margaret Court with 24, Martina Hingis with five and Maria Sharapova with four). The three one-major winners who found glory at Wimbledon: Conchita Martinez (1994), Jana Novotna (1998) and Petra Kvitova (2011 and still active).
The 2013 Matchup – Someone New to Hold the Venus Rosewater Dish
- No. 15 Marion Bartoli of France, a 2007 Wimbledon finalist (losing to Venus Williams), advanced to the final round with a dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 20 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium on Thursday.
- No. 23 seed Sabine Lisicki of Germany, a 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist, outlasted last year’s runner-up, No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland, in a 6-4, 2-6, 9-7 decision. She is the first German woman to reach the final of a tennis major since Steffi Graf at Wimbledon in 1999.
- The two have only met four times, with the German holding a 3-1 advantage. Lisicki defeated Bartoli twice on clay in Charleston, S.C., and they have split matches at Wimbledon – Bartoli winning in the first round of 2008 and Lisicki taking a 2011 quarterfinal matchup.
History Awaits in the Gentlemen’s Doubles Championship
- In the Gentlemen’s Doubles Championship (to be played after the Ladies’ Championship), the top-seeded 35-year old twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan of the United States are aiming for their 15th Grand Slam title together (each has more in Mixed Doubles). A victory would also be their fourth consecutive major title – plus last year’s Summer Olympics contested at Wimbledon. They will face No. 12 seed Ivan Dodig (Croatia) and Marcelo Melo (Brazil) who have never before reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam event in doubles.
ESPN3 will offer the Ladies’ Doubles Championship (also on ESPN, time permitting) to be played by:
- Su-Wei Hsieh, the highest-ranked singles player in the history of Chinese Taipei, teams with Peng Shuai of China as the No. 8 seed in the Ladies’ Doubles. Neither has previously played in a major final. Both hit the ball with two hands on the racquet on both sides, forehand and backhand.
- Australians Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua are the No. 12 seed, but played in the Australian Open doubles final. Barty, 17, won the Wimbledon Girls Juniors title in 2011. Dellacqua won the French Open Mixed Doubles crown in 2008, playing with American Scott Lipsky.
In addition, ESPN3 will have all available No. 1 court and outer court matches both Saturday and Sunday, including doubles semis, girls’ and boys’ competition and wheelchair events. Saturday’s Girls’ Singles Championship will showcase No. 1 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, 16, against No. 5 seed Taylor Townsend of Chicago. The 17-year old left-handed American already has four Grand Slam Junior trophies on her resume, all in 2012: the Australian Open Singles and Doubles crowns (when only 15), plus the Wimbledon and US Open Doubles titles.
| Date | Time (ET) | Event | Network | |
| Sat, July 6 | 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. | Breakfast at Wimbledon | ESPN / ESPN3 | Live |
| 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Ladies’ ChampionshipNo. 15 Marion Bartoli vs.No. 23 Sabine LisickiGentlemen’s Doubles ChampionshipNo. 1 B.Bryan/M.Bryan vs.No. 12 I.Dodig/M.Melo
Ladies’ Doubles Championship (time permitting) No. 8 Su-Wei Hsieh/Peng Shuai vs. No. 12 Ashleigh Barty/Casey Dellacqua |
ESPN / ESPN 3D / ESPN3 | Live | |
| 3 – 6 p.m. | Ladies’ ChampionshipNo. 15 Marion Bartoli vs.No. 23 Sabine Lisicki | ABC | Encore | |
| Sun, July 7 | 8 a.m. – 9 a.m. | Breakfast at Wimbledon | ESPN / ESPN3 | Live |
| 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. | Gentlemen’s ChampionshipNo. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. TBD | ESPN / ESPN 3D / ESPN3 | Live | |
| 3 – 6 p.m. | Gentlemen’s ChampionshipNo. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. TBD | ABC | Encore |
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