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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – The clock hasn’t struck midnight on Mirjana Lucic-Baroni yet; in fact, the night may have only just begun for the 34-year-old Croat, who stunned No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova at the Australian Open, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, to reach her first Grand Slam semifinal in 18 years.

Lucic-Baroni was 17 years old when she blasted past the likes of Monica Seles and Nathalie Tauziat to push Stefanie Graf to three sets at the All England Club in 1999, but has had to overcome much since then, sidelined due to personal and financial issues for much of the ensuing decade.

She started from scratch and was back in the Top 100 by 2010, earning big wins over Simona Halep at two of three consecutive major tournaments in 2014 and 2015. Still, the upper echelons of the game that had once seemed assured eluded her until she arrived in Melbourne last week, blasting past No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska after winning her first Australian Open main draw match since 1998.

In Pliskova, she played a younger version of herself, whose big serve and groundstrokes helped her start the season by winning the Brisbane International and earn a career-high ranking of No.5 in the world.

None of that mattered on Wednesday, as Lucic-Baroni recovered from an early deficit to roar thorugh the opening set hitting 12 winners and dropping just four points behind her first serve.

Pliskova appeared on the brink of elimination as she fell behind a break to start the second set, but pulled off a comeback reminiscent of her match against Jelena Ostapaneko in the third round to level the match and take necessary momentum into the decider.

Lucic-Baroni proved undaunted, however, and despite a medical timeout after the seventh game, she emerged stronger than ever to win 12 of the final 13 points of the match to book her second major semifinal after an hour and 47 minutes on the court.

By match’s end, the veteran hit a spellbinding nine aces and 45 winners to 35 unforced errors, finishing with a positive differential for the third time in five matches – a testament to just how cleanly the big-hitter has been playing in Melbourne.

Standing between Lucic-Baroni and a maiden Grand Slam final is either No.9 seed Johanna Konta or 22-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.

More to come…

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – When we think of fairytales, we think of magic. Fairytales are, after all, an attempt to explain the unthinkable. To do so they dip into the supernatural – glass slippers, fairy godmothers, conjured spells and potions – all to explain why, despite the odds against them, good things happen to good people.

Fairytales are nice, but the real thing is better. So much better. And tennis, a sport that gives you a chance for redemption every week, has offered up a story that not even Disney could inspire.

On Wednesday, 34-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni scored her second Top 5 win of the Australian Open, beating No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to advance to her first Slam semifinal in 18 years. With a left leg bearing rounds of tape and a rosary around her neck, Lucic-Baroni made good on her promises that she had more to do in tennis. And she did it not with the help of magic or spells, but by pure, unadulterated hard work.

“It’s just perseverance,” Lucic-Baroni said. “It’s just kind of ignoring everything and just pushing forward and kind of going through the wall. It’s not going but you keep pushing and you keep pushing, and nothing is working, and you keep pushing. That belief that eventually it will change.

“I think that’s what perseverance is, and I feel like that’s what helped me get here.

“This is what I’ve been dreaming about, this is what I’ve been training for. At 34 years old, like I said before, I have a wonderful home. I’m happily married. I would be perfectly okay being at home enjoying my family.

“But I really knew deep down in my soul that I have these results in me. To now be here and actually live these moments, it’s incredible.”

What does that feel like, to have that belief at your core that there is still greatness within you? It’s easy to understand that conviction when you’re young. The eyes are brighter, the heart full of optimism and hope. The world has not yet had the time to cruelly sap it out of you and turn you cynical and jaded. The body feels fresh and ready to jump at every chance, on any command. Ambition is easy when the failures are few.

“When I was younger, I just believed because I won a lot and it was that confidence you simply have because you’re winning all the time,” Lucic-Baroni said.

She would know. Lucic-Baroni was a two-time junior Slam champion by the time she was 14-years-old, won two matches in her Grand Slam debut at 15 years old, and was into the Wimbledon semifinals at 17. She was a prodigy in an era of prodigies. And then it was taken away from her for reasons not in her control.

“When you stop winning as much and you don’t play for a long time, you definitely lose it a little bit,” she said. “Not even lose it, you forget it. You forget deep down kind of who you are on the court. That has happened to me a little bit, where I struggled for a few years. And I’m really glad that I remembered.”

The circumstances surrounding Lucic-Baroni’s fade during the early 2000s due to her abusive father have been well-documented. Though there has been rampant speculation regarding the details, she has opted not to discuss it.

“A part of it is I just want to say because people assume a lot, and people don’t know,” she explained. “That irritates me when people assume things like injuries and things like that and people write about it. I understand it’s your guys’ job to write about it. A lot of it is speculation.

“At other times I really want to keep those things to myself, and I don’t want to tell anybody anything, and I don’t want to focus so much on that.

“I kind of want to be known as amazing fighter, a person who persevered against everything, against all odds. And that’s what I take pride in.”

There was no more poignant moment during her emotional post-match interview than when a tearful Lucic-Baroni was asked what her two weeks in Melbourne – which was already a feel-good story after she won her first round match, her first Australian Open win in 19 years – has meant to her.

“I know it means a lot to every player to reach the semifinals but to me this is overwhelming,” she said through the tears. “This has truly made my life and everything bad that happened, it has made it ok. Just that I was this strong and it was worth fighting this hard, it’s just really incredible.”

Incredible is the word. Lucic-Baroni has gone from a cautionary tale to one of the game’s inspiring pillars. She has every right to be bitter in the face of her tragic history. But there are no dark clouds around her. She has a sunny disposition, eager to discuss her tennis and on-court struggles, while offering a wise perspective to her career. She has no clothing sponsor. She’s not on Twitter. There is no air of self-pity or entitlement. There is only a purity of desire and defiance, to take back what was taken from her and show the world that she has what it takes. That she always had what it takes.

After beating No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round, Lucic-Baroni made it clear that she wasn’t out here just to have fun. She was still toiling away with a purpose. “I didn’t go to see the court and enjoy,” she said. “I’m way too old and I’ve been around way too long to just gain experience. I came there to win the match. Feelings like tonight are incredible on court. You can’t replicate it anywhere else in life.”

Regardless of what happens over the next few days, she will rise to a career-high ranking on Monday, surpassing the No.32 she peaked at nearly two decades ago. When she faces Serena on Thursday, the two will be facing off for the first time since Wimbledon back in 1998.

“I’m really happy for Mirjana,” Serena said. “I was there when she first started. To see her be able to never give up actually is super inspiring to me. It’s a wonderful story.”

Perserverance has been the theme of the 2017 Australian Open. Along with Venus Williams and Serena Williams, this has been a tournament carried by prodigies-turned-veterans, who continue to reset the perceived age barrier in tennis. While Serena continues to chase history and grapple at the top of the game, Venus has now made the semifinals in two of her last three Slams.

After making her first Australian Open semifinal since 2003 on Tuesday, Venus was asked why she’s still in the game at age 36. “I have a lot to give,” she said. “I have a lot to give to the game. I feel like I have a lot of great tennis in me. So any time you feel that way, you continue.

“Why not? I have nothing to lose, literally.”

“This time, it’s incredibly special, especially since it’s been so long since the last time I’ve been in semifinals,” Lucic-Baroni said. “And the struggle has been so much bigger, and nobody in this world thought I could ever be here again, beside my closest family, my coach, and my brothers, my sisters, my husband, my mom. Beside my little circle, I don’t think anybody believed that I could do it. And it’s really fun.

“It’s fun to prove everybody wrong, and it’s fun to enjoy this for myself and live these incredible moments. It’s more special this time, for sure.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – Serena Williams is two victories away from a record-breaking 23rd Grand Slam title and a return to WTA World No.1 after moving into the Australian Open semifinals with a commanding win over Britain’s Johanna Konta, 6-2, 6-3.

With the victory Serena is through to her tenth consecutive Grand Slam semifinal, a run stretching back to the 2014 US Open.

An even better omen for the American? She’s never been defeated at this stage of the Australian Open, having advanced to the final in the six previous times she’s reached the semifinals. This time, the promise of a return to the WTA No.1 ranking awaits should she claim her seventh Melbourne crown.

Serena snapped up the last remaining semifinal spot after her much-awaited first-time clash against Britain’s No.1 Konta, who’s been in torrid form throughout the Australian summer.

Konta’s serve had been broken only twice in the entire tournament, but she quickly found herself on the back foot against Serena’s powerful returns, dropping serve twice in the opening set.

“I think it was probably one of the best experiences of my life,” the Brit described playing Serena for the first time. “I think there’s so many things I can learn from that, so many things I can look to improve on, also acknowledge some things that I did well.

“I think, credit to her, she played an almost perfect first set. I felt she really did incredibly well. She just showed and shows why she is who she is.”

Serena Williams

Serena struggled with her own serve throughout the match as her normally powerful first serves – one of the hallmarks of her game – seemed to abandon her, giving Konta the first look at a break point in the third game of the first set. But when the serve failed Serena found other weapons to rely on, outpacing Konta from the baseline with some heavy ground strokes. A timely ace – Serena’s first of 10 in the match – bailed her out of trouble.

“My first serve wasn’t really great, but I’ve really been working on my second serve,” Serena explained later in press. “Hasn’t been great all tournament, so I’ve been kind of relying on my second serve. I’ve been relying on my groundstrokes, forehand, backhand. My returns have really picked up.

“All around, I feel like she’s a great all-around player. So I feel like I had to be on it all around today.”

With that early wobble behind her, Serena was all business as she steamrolled through the opening set, her forehand firing on all cylinders.

The American’s service woes put her in another early deficit in the final set, as Konta roared back from down 15-40 to break and open up a 3-1 lead. But the pressure from the 22-time Grand Slam champion never let up, who quickly broke back to establish parity, rattling off five games in a row to move into her 34th career Grand Slam semifinal.

Standing between Serena and the final is Mirjana Lucic-Baroni after the 34-year-old stunned No.5 seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. The pair’s last match came almost two decades ago.

“It was in ’98, I remember,” Serena said of their Wimbledon match. “It was on Centre Court. That’s all I remember. I remember winning. I was so excited because I was so young. She obviously was super young, too.

“Honestly, we have totally different games now, the both of us. We both have gone through a lot. We both have survived, and here we are, which I think is a really remarkable story.”

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News | WTA Tennis English

  • Posted: Jan 01, 1970

MELBOURNE, Australia – No.2 seeds Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig overcame a stern test from the unseeded Gabriela Dabrowski and Rohan Bopanna to move into the semifinals of the mixed doubles competition at the Australian Open.

Mirza and Dodig needed one hour and seven minutes to complete the 6-4, 3-6, (12-10) victory despite hitting 19 winners to Dabrowski and Bopanna’s 32.

It was an interesting match for Mirza in particular, as the last time she shared a court with Bopanna they were on the same side of the net at the Olympic tennis event in Rio representing India in doubles. They finished fourth in the competition after losing the bronze medal match.

Up next for Mirza and Dodig will be a potential clash with another familiar pair of faces for the Indian World No.2, as they’ll take on either Mirza’s former doubles partner Martina Hingis and fellow Indian star Leander Paes or the Aussie duo Samantha Stosur and Sam Groth.

Also through to the semifinals are the unseeded duo of Abigail Spears and Juan Sebastian Cabal, who defeated Michaella Krajicek and Raven Klaasen, 6-4 6-3. They’ll face the winners between the top-seeded Americans Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Mike Bryan or Elina Svitolina and Chris Guccione.

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