Lucic-Baroni Shocks Venus Williams To Capture Title in Quebec City

September 15, 2014 | By Brian Coleman
Photo credit: Calvin Rhoden

Mirjana Lucic-Baroni continued her resurgent 2014 season as she cruised past top-seeded Venus Williams 6-4, 6-3 in the Coupe Banque Nationale final from Quebec City on Sunday afternoon.

The win gave the Croat her first WTA title in over 16 years, a record for the longest time in between title wins. Her last title came in Bol, Croatia back in 1998.

She battled back from a 3-1 first-set deficit, and was the more aggressive player as she nutulized excellent ground strokes to shock Williams.

“I’m so happy I can’t really find the words right now to explain how happy I am,” said Lucic-Baroni. “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.”

Her title in Quebec City comes on the heels of her outstanding run at the US Open. The 32-year old reached the fourth-round in Flushing Meadows, including knocking out the second-ranked player in the world Simona Halep.

The title match was the 75th of William’s career, and she drops to 45-30 all-time in WTA finals.

“My opponent played too well against me today,” said Williams. “She swung as hard as she could on every shot and hit so many lines. It’s not typical that when you got for every shot they almost all go in. I think I played pretty well, but she just played better than me.”

The singles title wasn’t enough for Lucic-Baroni, as her and her partner Lucie Hradecka beat Julie Goerges and Andrea Hlavackova 6-3,7-6(8) in the tournament’s doubles final later that day.


Brian Coleman

 Brian Coleman is the Senior Editor for New York Tennis Magazine. He may be reached at brianc@usptennis.com

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