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Australian Open: Serena defeats LucicBaroni in semis, sets up an all-Williams final against sister Venus

Melbourne: World No. 2 Serena Williams decimated Lucic Baroni 6-2, 6-1 to advance in the women’s singles final of Australian Open 2017.

In a match that lasted for 50 minutes, Serena gave her opponent no chance at all with unplayable service games.

With the comprehensive win, Serena has set up an all-Williams final against her sister Venus, who fought back in her semi-final match to beat CoCo Vandeweghe 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.

Williams eased past ninth-seed Johanna Konta 6-2 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday to move into a 10th consecutive grand slam semifinal and closer to a record 23rd major.

Williams will regain the No. 1 ranking from German Angelique Kerber as well, if she wins the tournament.

Serena, who last played Lucic-Baroni at 1998 Wimbledon, when they were both 16, applauded the Croatian by saying, “She inspires me.”

Meanwhile, Baroni, the former prodigy had a brilliant run in the tournament.

The 34-year-old earlier beat one of the tournament favorites, fifth-seed Karolina Pliskova, 6-4 3-6 6-4, to set up a clash with the world No. 2 and make her second grand slam semifinal a remarkable 18 years after the first.

The Croatian reached her last major semi-final at Wimbledon in 1999, when she was 17, but lost most of her career to personal trauma after being forced to flee an abusive father.

She was in floods of tears and described the feeling as “pure ecstasy” after upsetting Karolina Pliskova in three sets to reach the semi-finals.

“I will never forget this day and the last couple of weeks. This has truly made my life, and everything bad that happened, (it) has made it okay,” the 34-year-old said.

Source: Zee News