Qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni upset second seed Simona Halep at the US Open to reach the fourth round at a grand slam for the first time in 15 years.
The former child prodigy is now 32 but rolled back the years with a superb display of power hitting to knock out Halep 7-6 (8/6) 6-2.
A title winner at 15 and Wimbledon semi-finalist by 17, Lucic-Baroni's burgeoning career was derailed by off-court problems.
In 1998, she and her mother and siblings fled their native Croatia for the United States to escape father and coach Marinko, who she alleges physically and verbally abused her from a young age.
Financial problems limited the amount she could play and she contested only two professional matches between 2004 and 2006.Although she went on to have her great run at Wimbledon in 1999, beating Monica Seles before losing narrowly to Steffi Graf, Lucic-Baroni's success petered out.
But Lucic-Baroni was determined that her personal misfortune would not stop her playing tennis and in 2007 she began the long road back.
She has battled away on the lower rungs of the tennis ladder, returning to the grand-slam stage in 2010 after a gap of eight years.
Her best run until now came at Wimbledon in 2012 when she beat Marion Bartoli on her way to the third round as a qualifier.
The result will be a major disappointment for Halep, who has enjoyed an impressive season, reaching at least the quarter-finals at the other three grand slams and losing to Maria Sharapova in the French Open final.
source skys
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