Mirjana Lucic-Baroni kept her 2014 revival going on Sunday afternoon, defeating Venus Williams in straight sets to win the Coupe Banque Nationale in Québec City - her first WTA title in 16 years and four months, a record for the biggest gap between winning WTA titles.
Coming in off a sensational run to the fourth round of the US Open, which included the best win of her career against the No.2-ranked player in the world, Simona Halep, Lucic-Baroni carried that momentum into Québec City this week, not dropping a set en route to her first WTA semifinal since Wimbledon in 1999, then going one step further by reaching her first WTA final since Bol, Croatia in 1998. And with some big serving and ferocious hitting off the ground Lucic-Baroni took it to an even higher level against the No.1-seeded Williams, falling behind 3-1 early on but then storming back to win in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, throwing her arms in the air in celebration after winning match point. "I'm so happy I can't really find the words right now to explain how happy I am," Lucic-Baroni said. "I played such a great match today against one of the best players in the world, such a champion. "It's been so long. I'm finally playing the great tennis I always knew I could play, but it had been so long that I kind of lost a little bit of the belief in myself. But now after starting with my new coach Julian Alonso, winning matches and really getting that belief back, I'm just so ready to keep going."
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario