France's Marion Bartoli caused one of the greatest upsets in Wimbledon history by beating top seed Justine Henin in the semi-finals on Friday.

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 Saturday's final.

She was like a wall, getting everything back against the French Open champion, who made some uncharateristic errors as the match wore on.

Henin led by a set and a break at 4-3 but won just two more games as Bartoli delighted the Centre Court crowd.

Bartoli bizarrely credited her victory to seeing former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan in the Royal Box.

"It was very hard, my game was not on at all in the first set," Bartoli told the BBC.

"Then I saw Pierce Brosnan, he is one of my favourite actors so I thought it would be good to play a bit of tennis. I tried to play a little better and here I am.

"I tried to focus on the ball and forget who I was playing and where I was playing.

"I'm so excited to be in the final, it's like a dream come true. If you told me that before the tournament I would not have trusted you."

Henin paid tribute to Bartoli but still appeared shocked by her defeat.

"I still don't really realise what happened," Henin said.

"I played a very good first set, then I had a couple of chances at the end of the second set, didn't take these chances and the match completely turned over.

"She's playing an unbelievable tournament. She was confident. She was never scared of winning the match or anything. She took the opportunities.

"I'm not quite sure it's a question of pressure about winning here.

"I lost a lot of energy in the last few weeks. I played a lot. My match against Serena (Williams) was also very tough mentally, emotionally.

"It was hard for me to be at my best today. It's the kind of thing that can happen - but I'll have other chances in the future."

Earlier, Williams had won through to her sixth Wimbledon final with a 6-2 6-4 win over Ana Ivanovic.

Williams, who had impressed in seeing off Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous two rounds, was not at her brilliant best this time but didn't need to be.

Ivanovic was blown away in a one-sided first set but as more errors began to creep into Williams' game, the 19-year-old Serb found her feet.

She was more competitive in the second set but when she lost serve at 3-3 the end was nigh.

Williams missed three match points on Ivanovic's serve in the ninth game but that did not faze her and she duly served out.

Afterwards, Williams credited the support of her family, and in particular her sister Serena, for her latest final appearance.

"We just motivate each other so much," added Williams.

"There's something about us. No matter where we're ranked, no matter where we are, no matter what the next person says, ultimately we just believe in ourselves, and I think that's what makes the difference."

Ivanovic, who also lost the recent French Open final, admitted she had again suffered from nerves.

"I started a little bit nervous today and obviously she's a very good player and she was serving well," said Ivanovic.

"That was the biggest difference and she was very aggressive."

In the men's quarter-finals, Roger Federer took another step closer to immortality when he dispatched Juan Carlos Ferrero to take his place in the last four.

And although Federer dropped his first set of the championships it was still a commanding 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-1 6-3 victory which keeps him on course to equal Bjorn Borg's five successive Wimbledon singles titles.

The match, which had been halted by rain on Thursday, had resumed at 5-5 and deuce on Federer's serve but the champion soon got out of that tricky situation to take the opening set.

However, his troubles were not over and Ferrero's heavy groundstrokes got him back in the match as he took the second - only the sixth set Federer had surrendered during a winning streak in SW19 which now stretches to 32 matches.

The shock of losing his first set of the tournament prompted Federer to take his game up a notch and he pushed on to set up a last-four meeting with Richard Gasquet.

"To equal his (Borg's) record would be fantastic with him maybe watching my match," said Federer.

"I'm very far in the tournament so of course I have started dreaming about winning the tournament once again.

"That has been my big goal since a year ago when I won my fourth, try to come back and win my fifth.

"I don't see that as pressure, more as a fun thing, a challenge really. It's a dream come true because I never thought I would chase down former greats."

Gasquet looked beaten at two sets and a break down against Andy Roddick, but he produced a stunning fightback to win the match in five sets, the first time he has ever mounted such a recovery.

The Frenchman's major weapon was his backhand as he crashed winner after winner past a forlorn Roddick, who had played so well in the early part of the match.

Roddick forced a number of break points against the Gasquet serve in the first and second sets, converting one in each to move ahead 2-0.

And when he broke again to lead 3-2 in the third set the match looked all over.

However, Gasquet found a break to force his way back into the match and won the third and fourth sets on tie-breaks, dominating both and snapping Roddick's run of 18 consecutive successful breakers in the process.

The deciding set went with serve until the 14th game when Gasquet forced two match points, taking the second when Roddick went long.

After the match Gasquet said: "After losing two sets, I decided to play more aggressive tennis - to play with my backhand, to go to the net, to serve better and to fight.

"I thought I had nothing to lose after the first two sets so there was no pressure on me."

Earlier, Rafael Nadal shrugged off his hectic schedule to beat Tomas Berdych in straight sets and reach the semi-finals.

Nadal won 7-6 6-4 6-2 to move into the last four, where he will meet Novak Djokovic.

After a four-day, rain-delayed marathon against Robin Soderling, the world number two then had to fight back from two sets down to beat Mikhail Youzhny in the fourth round.

Seventh seed Berdych had been expected to pose Nadal plenty of problems, but once he had won a first-set tie-break it was all one-way traffic in favour of last year's beaten finalist.

"For the conditions, I played a very good match," said Nadal. "I beat one of the best players in the world, especially on this surface.

"It is a very good victory for me. I have beaten very good players in Fish, Soderling, Youzhny and Berdych so I am very happy about my Wimbledon right now."

Djokovic only reached the semi-finals after a gruelling five-set marathon against Marcos Baghdatis, which lasted a minute short of five hours.

The Serbian fourth seed won the first two sets on tie-breaks, but lost the third in the same fashion before Baghdatis claimed a crucial break to take the fourth and level the match.

The Cypriot, who reached the semi-finals a year ago before losing to Nadal, looked to have the momentum going into the final set, particularly as Djokovic had required treatment for a stiff back.

However, after the first 10 games went with serve, Djokovic broke to love in the 11th before serving out the match on his first match point.