Mirjana Lucic-Baroni made headlines at the US Open when she reached the round of 16 for the first time at a major in 15 years. Then she brought tears to our eyes when she herself broke down in tears during an emotional press conference after the match.
Video: Lucic-Baroni Breaks Down in Tears During US Open Presser
On Sunday in Quebec, the 32-year-old Croatian kept the tearjerker theme alive and well when she defeated Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-3 in the Coupe Banque Nationale final to break the record for the largest gap in years between WTA titles.
That’s even three years longer that Kimiko Date-Krumm’s gap (13), and TWICE AS LONG as the eight-year gap between titles that Jelena Dokic once managed.
Lucic-Baroni had stiff competition in today’s final from Venus Williams, but after the 34-year-old American broke to get back on serve in the seventh game of the second set, she was immediately broken back when she double-faulted on Lucic-Baroni’s fourth break point of the game.
Lucic-Baroni would then hold to love to close out the championship when a Williams’ backhand return sailed long.
Afterwards an elated Lucic-Baroni tried to break out her cell phone to call her husband but that didn’t go so well…
“It’s been incredible,” said Lucic-Baroni, after picking up her winner’s trophy. “I really hope that nobody is going to wake me up and tell me that this is just a dream.”
Later in the afternoon, she took the court again and broke another record. By winning the doubles title, Lucic-Baroni became the first player in the tournament’s history to sweep the doubles and singles in the same year.
Not bad for a week’s work, but when one considers that it was 16 years in the making, it does not seem easy at all…
Photo Source: Tennis TV