Australian Open 2017: Serena Williams Ends Mirjana Lučić-Baroni’s Fairytale Run

Mirjana Lučić-Baroni’s fairytale run ends (photo by: Luke Hemer/Tennis Australia)

World No. 2 Serena Williams has ended Mirjana Lučić-Baroni’s fairytale run at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday afternoon.

The 34-year-old Croatian, who was playing in her first semi-final at a Grand Slam since 1999, was the sensation of the tournament, but the dream run ended briskly today against Williams.

Williams, who is aiming to win her 23rd Grand Slam title, won the match in straight sets 6-2 6-1.

Lučić-Baroni started the match strong, winning her opening service game and pushing Williams in her first, but a host of unforced errors meant the American was able take back-to-back breaks to claim the first set comfortably.

The Croatian had already caused two major upsets in the tournament, beating the World No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska and World No. 5 Karolina Pliskova, but it was not to be today.

Lučić-Baroni had a fairytale run in Melbourne (AP)

A break in the third game of the second set, backed up by another in the fifth saw Williams take control, and she made no mistake in wrapping the match up in under an hour.

After a promising career on the junior circut, Lučić-Baroni made her Grand Slam debut as a 15-year-old at the US Open nearly 20 years ago. She won the Australian Open doubles title with Martina Hingis in 1998 and made the semi-finals at Wimbledon in 1999.