
Lucic-Baroni last reached a grand slam semi-final in 1999, when she lost to Steffi Graf at Wimbledon (Zimbio.com)
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni continued her stunning tournament, matching her career best run at a grand slam tournament by reaching the finals by defeating fifth seed Karolina Pliskova 64 36 64. The Croatian returned from a medical timeout to win twelve of the final thirteen points to reach her first grand slam semi-final since Wimbledon in 1999.
Lucic Baroni barely played between 2004 and 2008 after suffering personal problems that affected her life and career.
Lucic-Baroni had beaten Agnieszka Radwanska in the early rounds but few would have backed her to defeat the in-form Pliskova, who has made giant strides in the last twelve months.
Pliskova survived an early deuce scare on serve at love-one before racing into a three-one lead. She would win just one of the next eight games though, as Lucic-Baroni rolled back the years to take control of the opening set.
Lucic-Baroni set up three set points at four-five when she started the game with two magnificent backhand winners, both angled cross-court drives that passed Pliskova. The rattled fifth seed then missed with her own backhand to bring up love-forty. Lucic-Baroni missed long on her first shot, but then Pliskova followed suit to hand the Croatian a stunning set lead
The Croatian was dominant on serve through most of the set, winning more than three-quarters of points behind her first serve, and exactly half of her second serve points.
Lucic-Baroni held again to start the second, before a forehand cross-court, and a wide backhand cross-court winner brought up two immediate break points. Unlike the first set, Pliskova was unable to fend off the early pressure, meekly firing long with a forehand to hand the veteran Croatian the early second set break.
The thirty-four year-old perhaps understandably got tight, missing with three balls into the net in the next game and Pliskova immediately returned to serve. Before she could attempt to level on the second set scoreboard though, Pliskova received a three-minute timeout to treat blisters that had developed on Pliskova’s right foot.
Pliskova eventually held after a deuce game, and then broke when a vicious barrage of ground strokes saw the Croatian break down on the backhand side. The fifth seed then hit a rich vein of form, breaking twice to end the set six-three.
Four breaks of serve in the first six games of the deciding set saw the momentum swing one way and then the other. It was again Pliskova who hit top form at a crucial time, recovering from one-three to lead four-three on serve.
Lucic-Baroni was the next to call for a medical timeout, leaving court for assessment and then treatment. She returned to play a superb service game to stop Pliskova’s momentum, holding serve in just one minute and one second.
The injury break really seemed to help, with a superb start to her next return game also, two deep returns getting her to love-thirty. Two unforced errors from Pliskova then ensured Lucic-Baroni would serve for a place in the semi-finals, having won eight straight points since returning from the injury timeout.
Lucic-Baroni – ” I can’t believe this, this is crazy, I can’t believe I am in semi-finals again, I feel a little bit in shock right now. I could never dream about being here again (breaks down in tears) I know this means a lot to every player to reach the semi-finals but I will never ever forget this, just to think that I was this strong and that it was worth fighting for. It was impossible to serve from that side, the glasses do nothing but I just felt extreme calm and I just went after my shots. It’s really tough, I’m going to do my best to recover.”
Regardless of the result that she earns in the semi-finals or further, the story of Lucic-Baroni at the 2017 Australian Open is surely the story to be remembered from the women’s draw.
Lucic-Baroni’s story hasn’t finished yet at this tournament, with the next chapter featuring her in a semi-final against Serena Williams or Johanna Konta.