Croatia’s Mirjana Lucic-Baroni beat former world number one Venus Williams in straight sets to clinch her first WTA title since 1998 on Sunday.
Lucic-Baroni beat Williams 6-4, 6-3 to capture the Quebec City tournament. The former teen star won her only two prior WTA titles on home soil at the 1997 and 1998 Croatian Opens, beating American Corina Morariu in each final.
By defeating US top seed Williams, Lucic-Baroni ended the longest gap between titles in WTA history, a wait of 16 years and four months. Japan’s Kimiko Date-Krumm held the old mark of 13 years and one month between her trophies in 1996 at San Diego and in 2009 at Seoul, Sport24 reported.
Lucic-Baroni broke seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Williams in the fourth game of the second set and held for a 4-1 edge before the American tennis ace battled back, holding and then breaking back to 4-3.
Lucic-Baroni, who had not reached a final since her 1998 title run in her homeland, answered with a break and held serve to claim the historic title after 83 minutes.
Williams, ranked 19th and coming off a third-round exit at the US Open, was denied her 46th career WTA title. She won in Dubai earlier this year, the report added.
……ANI