Mirjana Lucic-Baroni vs Serena Williams: Australian Open semi-final tennis live scores

It will be a battle for the ages as Mirjana Lucic-Baroni and Serena Williams turn back the clock in what will be their first match against each other in over 18 years. Can a revived Lucic-Baroni go onto her first ever career slam after 20 years on the pro circuit or will Williams book her place in her 29th slam final? Join The Roar from around 3:30pm (AEDT) for live scores.

Croat Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has faced a tough battle to reach what is just her second ever grand slam semifinal, her first since Wimbledon in 1999. In what has been an Australian Open full of fairytales, Lucic’s story has been the greatest of all.

At 34 years of age, the once highly-touted tennis junior who won two junior grand slam singles titles before her 15th birthday, a feat she shares with Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati, was a tennis prodigy that struggled to fulfil their potential.

Plagued by personal troubles, Lucic took a four-year break from the tour between 2003 and 2007, after bursting onto the scene winning a doubles title at Wimbledon in 1998 as a 15-year-old alongside Martina Hingis.

Ranked world No.79, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni has defied odds to reach the semifinal at Melbourne Park. After a second round exit at Auckland and a devastating loss at qualifying in Sydney, Lucic-Baroni was on shaky ground in the first round, nearly going down to young Chinese player Wang Qiang after dropping the first 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

The Croat then earned a major scalp, knocking out world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in a powerful, straight-sets display 6-3, 6-2. Tournament surprise packets Maria Sakkari and Jennifer Brady were no match for Lucic, going down 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-2 respectively.

Then having made her way through to the quarterfinals, Lucic-Baroni sent tournament dark horse, in-form world No.5 Karolina Pliskova in an emotional three-set thriller, winning through 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

The road could not have been any tougher for Mirjana Lucic-Baroni who will take every moment as it comes as she takes on former world No.1 and tennis legend Serena Williams.

World No.2 and 22-time grand slam champion Serena Williams is also on the comeback trail, her sights firmly set on lifting the trophy come Saturday night.

The American has had a gruelling draw on her way to the semifinals. It hasn’t stopped her as she is yet to drop a single set along the way. The Australian Open marks Williams’ comeback from a shoulder injury and like Lucic-Baroni, she is a changed person.

So far at Melbourne Park, Williams has earned scalps over Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 and Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-4 as well as fellow American Nicole Gibbs 6-1, 6-3.

Williams was pushed against world No.16 Czech Barbora Strycova, nearly going down in the first set to come out with a straight sets victory 7-5, 6-4 before knocking off Johanna Konta in what was her strongest match all tournament 6-2, 6-3.

The American will be needing to continue what she was doing on Wednesday against Konta by pushing her opponent off the baseline with some strong forehands, and peppering powerful serves down the T as well as playing an explosive return game.

Williams will go into the match as outright favourite however – as we have seen with the likes of Angelique Kerber, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep tumbling in peculiar circumstances – at Melbourne Park in 2017 anything can happen.

The pair have played each other only twice on the WTA Tour, Williams winning on both occasions. Not much should be read into their head-to-head records however, their last meeting coming at Wimbledon way back in 1998, both players aged just 15.

On that day, Serena enjoyed a straight sets 6-3, 6-0 win in the second round, only a year later the American would go on to win her first of 22 grand slam titles. Their only clash on hard court also came in 1998, Williams winning in three sets at Sydney 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

An outing in the Australian Open final against either CoCo Vandeweghe or Venus Williams awaits the winner.

Prediction
Serena Williams will be the one to end Lucic-Baroni’s fairytale, going through to the final in straight sets for her shot at a seventh Australian Open crown.

Williams in straight sets.

Join The Roar from around 3:30pm (AEDT) for live scores following the completion of CoCo Vandeweghe and Venus Williams.

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