Venus and Serena Williams will meet in a Grand Slam final for the ninth time after the American sisters came through their semi-finals in Melbourne.
Williams brought an end to Lucic-Baroni’s fairytale run in Melbourne with an emphatic 6-2 6-1 victory, which ensures the most prestigious siblings in tennis will meet for a ninth major final and their first since Wimbledon in 2009.
Thirteenth seed Venus, 36, beat fellow American Coco Vandeweghe 6-7 (3-7) 6-2 6-3 to reach her first major final since 2009.
A win for Serena would see her finally pull clear of Steffi Graf’s Open-era record 22 grand slam titles and move just one short of Margaret Court’s all-time best 24.
Their reunion adds another chapter to a throwback Australian Open, in which Serena and Venus, aged 35 and 36 respectively, will go head to head for the women’s title while Roger Federer, 35, and Rafael Nadal, 30, may yet do battle for the men’s.
Serena will be favourite. She has won seven of her last eight meetings against her older sister and holds a 16-11 advantage overall, since the pair first met professionally in the second round here 19 years ago.
Lucic-Baroni, who turns 35 herself in March, was given a rapturous reception as the Croatian recorded on her phone the final seconds of her brilliant tournament.
On her title match with Venus, she added: ‘She’s my toughest opponent, no-one has ever beaten me as much as Venus has. She has a pretty good record against me.
Source : SunOnline