Wimbledon: Marion Bartoli battles through after banishing parents from court

Ninth seed Marion Bartoli said that throwing her parents out of court helped her fight back to beat Flavia Pennetta in a gruelling third-round clash at Wimbledon on Saturday.

The excitable Frenchwoman, runner up at Wimbledon in 2007, lost the first set 7-5 and immediately gestured furiously for her mother and father, who is also her coach, to leave the viewing area in Court 14.

The move had the desired effect as she won the next two sets 6-4 9-7 - the decider after she was 5-3 down - to set up a last-16 clash with holder Serena Williams.

"I was so tired and exhausted that really I had to express my emotions somehow," she said when asked about the unusual development.

"I needed to get that frustration out so I showed it that way. I could have broken a racket or thrown a bag or something. I normally never act like that but I felt at this point I had to get all this frustration out and start again."

Bartoli, who saved three match points en route to beating Lourdes Dominguez Lino in the second round on Thursday, said there were no hard feelings when the family linked up afterwards.

"I saw them after the match and they understood completely," she said.

"It was not against them. It was just that we played a very long first set and I was exhausted and I was tired and I was feeling worse and worse.

"My dad told me he watched from the TV and he said it was the best match he ever saw me play at Wimbledon."