After recording her first main-draw win at the Australian Open since 1998 in round one against Wang Qiang, Mirjana Lucic-Baroni continued her winning ways in the second round, this time causing the biggest upset of the tournament so far by ousting world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska.
The world No.79 Lucic-Baroni defeated the third-seeded Radwanska in just one hour and two minutes, 6-3 6-2. The Pole, who came to Melbourne fresh off a final at the Apia International Sydney, was struck by how fast she was sent crashing out:
There’s not a lot I could do; she’s playing without pressure, full power. It’s hard to comment because it all went so fast.
This is the first time ever than the Croat has won two successive matches at Melbourne Park, while Radwanska suffered her earliest loss at the tournament in eight years!
Ecstatic about her victory, the 34-year-old Lucic-Baroni said:
I know I have a big, strong game and that I can hurt a lot of people. Whether I can do it seven days in a row is a question. But I know I have a big enough game to beat anybody.
Next up for the Croat will be unseeded Spartan Maria Sakkari, ranked No.94.
Just to give you a better perspective, this is how the Top 10 in the WTA rankings looked back in January 1998 when Lucic-Baroni won her last match in the main draw of the Australian Open prior to this year.
Not really surprising to me after watching how she played against halep at us open and french open(?). Against defencive and counter punching *top* players, she generates stunning power with great accuracy. I was actually hoping she’d take out aga since she’s in pliskova’s quarter and kaja never beat aga
Aga also looked not so prepared for AO this year. She didn’t have the best lead up and Mirjana also played so well. I think she can be a surprise QF this year.