Tennis is all about timing and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni earned a title for the ages today. The 32-year-old Lucic-Baroni stunned top-seeded Venus Williams, 6-4, 6-3, in the Quebec City final to capture her first WTA title in 16 years, four months. It is the longest gap between Tour-level titles in WTA history.
The 1999 Wimbledon semifinalist had won her last title in Bol, Croatia in 1998. The 16-year gap between titles broke Kimiko Date-Krumm's previous record of 13 years, one month, which came between winning the 1996 San Diego crown and the 2009 Seoul title.
Trailing 1-3, Lucic-Baroni began to strike with greater depth in reeling off 11 of the final 15 games.
"I'm so happy I can't really find the words right now to explain how happy I am," Lucic-Baroni told WTATennis.com. "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."
The title continues a remarkable run for Lucic-Baroni, who was two points from elimination in last month's U.S. Open qualifying before fighting back to qualify for the Flushing Meadows major. She proceeded to shock second-seeded Simona Halep to reach her first Grand Slam fourth round in 15 years.
Williams said she was outplayed by an opponent in the zone.
"My opponent played too well against me today," Williams said. "She swung as hard as she could on every shot and hit so many lines. It's not typical that when you go for every shot they almost all go in. I think I played pretty well, but she just played better than me.She just had the magic today."
Lucic-Baroni's day wasn't done. She partnered Lucie Hradecka to defeat Julia Goerges and Andrea Hlavackova, 6-3, 7-6 (8), to collect the doubles title. The former Australian Open doubles champion claimed her first WTA doubles title since winning Tokyo with Martina Hingis 16 years and seven months ago. Hingis and Lucic-Baroni also won the 1998 Australian Open doubles crown together.