MELBOURNE: Courageous Mirjana Lucic-Baroni wept tears of joy Wednesday as she described making her first Grand Slam semi-final since Wimbledon in 1999 as "pure ecstasy".
The Croat, a former teenage prodigy whose career was derailed by personal trauma, swept into the Australian Open last four by upsetting fifth seed Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a Rod Laver Arena epic.
The emotional win kept her fairytale tournament alive, and the 34-year-old is struggling to take it all in.
"I can't believe this. This is crazy. The only thing I can say is God is good. That's all I can say. I can't believe it. I feel a little bit in shock," she said, sobbing uncontrollably.
"To me, this is overwhelming. I will never forget this day and the last couple of weeks. This has truly made my life, and everything bad that happened, (it) has made it okay."
She added that winning was "pure ecstasy" after fearing she may not be able to continue after receiving treatment to a heavily strapped leg.
"I started hurting pretty bad mid-match, especially towards the end. The fact that I was able to do it and so well at the end, I was really grateful," she said.
Next up is Serena Williams, who with sister Venus was among the crop of teen talents emerging at the same time as the Croat in the 1990s, along with Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova.
They haven't played each other since the 1998 Wimbledon, and Williams said it was inspiring to see her old sparring partner come good again.
"I'm really happy for Mirjana. I was there when she first started," she said.
"To see her be able to never give up actually is super-inspiring to me. It's a wonderful story.
"At the end of the day, it really helps me to realise that you have to always go for your dreams. So I feel like it's just great."
Lucic-Baroni's comeback has been the feel-good story of the tournament, having dropped out of top-level tennis for most of the 2003-2010 period after fleeing an abusive father and suffering money and injury problems.
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