Baroni leaves Melbourne on a high despite semis defeat

Tennis - Australian Open - Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Australia - 26/1/17 Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni hits a shot during her Women's singles semi-final match against Serena Williams of the U.S. .REUTERS/Edgar Su

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Mirjana Lucic-Baroni offered no excuses for her meek departure from the Australian Open semi-finals at the hands of Serena Williams on Thursday, keener to discuss the career-high ranking that will follow her stunning run at Melbourne Park.

The 34-year-old Croatian was ranked 79th in the world coming into the year's first grand slam but after rolling back the years with a run to the last four is projected to leap into the top thirty when the new rankings are released next week.