DOMINIKA CIBULKOVA knows anything is possible after watching best friend Marion Bartoli win Wimbledon.

Tomorrow, Cibulkova will attempt to become one of the most unlikely grand slam champions in history when she faces Li Na in the Australian Open final.

The 5ft 3in Slovakian had only previously reached one slam semi-final, at the French Open in 2009, and did not make it past the third round at any of the four tournaments last season.

While Bartoli enjoyed good fortune with her draw at Wimbledon last year before beating Sabine Lisicki in the final, Cibulkova has had no such luck.

Her last four matches have all been against higherranked players, and yesterday fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska joined Maria Sharapova, Carla Suarez Navarro and Simona Halep in falling to Cibulkova.

Bartoli is in Melbourne and was able to congratulate her friend, with Cibulkova saying: ‘‘Straight after my semi-final she came into the gym to me.

She hugged me. We were both crying. She was so happy for me.

‘‘She was a big inspiration.

When she won Wimbledon, we are very close friends, so I knew she was working so hard for it, so she was the one who deserved it so much.

‘‘When she won it, I knew everything is possible.’’ Aside from her fourthround win over Sharapova, Cibulkova has not dropped a set all tournament and she was far too good for Radwanska, a player who she had lost 6-0 6-0 against in Sydney last year.

It took the world number 24 only an hour and ten minutes to blast her way to a 6-1 6-2 victory, with 21 winners.

She said: ‘‘I was just trying to focus on my game. I wanted to enjoy it.

‘‘Of course it was not easy when I was up in the second set. The thought started to come that I could win. I was 100 per cent ready for it and I was just doing what I had to do. That’s why I won.

‘‘I think I will say this many times, it’s like a dream. It’s something so unbelievable.’’