A GIDDY Sabine Lisicki could barely contain her excitement after becoming the first German to reach the women’s singles final at Wimbledon for 14 years.

Lisicki overpowered Agnieszka Radwanska to take the first set of yesterday’s semi-final on Centre Court, but the Polish fourth seed hit back to take the second and then went ahead in the third.

The German somehow summoned the strength to survive, breaking back before going on to record a 6-4 2-6 9-7 win after two hours and 18 minutes on court.

‘‘It’s unbelievable. The last few games were so exciting,’’ said a smiling Lisicki, who beat Serena Williams earlier in the tournament.

‘‘We were fighting, Agnieszka played so well throughout the match.

‘‘It was a battle. I’m so happy to have won that.

‘‘I fought with all my heart and believed I could still win no matter what the score was.’’ Lisicki was in a similar situation in her fourth-round match against Williams, winning in three after squandering a one-set lead.

‘‘It was a little bit like that in the third set when I was down 3-0,’’ Lisicki added.

‘‘I thought, ’Okay, you did it against Serena so you can do it today as well’.

‘‘It gave me so much confidence.

I’m so, so happy I was able to finish it.

‘‘Wimbledon is my favourite tournament, I love it so much and I love being in England. I cannot believe I’m in the final.’’ Tomorrow’s match against Marion Bartoli will be Lisicki’s first appearance in a grand slam final.

It will also be the first time that a German has reached a grand slam singles final since 1999 when Steffi Graf lost to Lindsay Davenport.

‘‘Steffi wished me luck before the match,’’ Lisicki said.

‘‘I haven’t thought about the final. I’ll be happy for today and I can re-focus tomorrow.’’ 􀁧 Marion Bartoli revealed the secret of her success was a pre-match nap as she reached the second Wimbledon final of her career.

The biggest day of Kirsten Flipkens’ life ended in a punishing defeat, 6-1 6-2, as French 15th seed Bartoli put paid to Belgian hopes.

Bartoli suspected that Flipkens’ knee problem was a factor in the one-sided nature of the contest, but admitted she was seeing the tennis ball like a football after nodding off just an hour before they took to the court.

‘‘I slept right before the semi-final. You can ask the physio in the locker room,’’ she said. ‘‘I slept from 12pm to 12.30pm, right before going on, and you can see I was razor-sharp today.

‘‘Maybe tonight it will be hard to sleep but I will be having fun tomorrow.’’ Tomorrow’s final awaits her, when the runner-up to Venus Williams in 2007 will have another shot at the title.