Pliskova halts Lucic-Baroni run in Miami

The win was sweet revenge for Pliskova who had lost to the Croat in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January and now has the best win-loss record of the year (23-3).

Karolina Pliskova hits a return to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni during the Miami Open tennis tournament on Tuesday.

Second-seed Karolina Pliskova booked her place in the semifinals of the Miami Open on Tuesday, ending the hopes of Croat veteran Marijana Lucic-Baroni with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

Lucic-Baroni has been enjoying a late career upturn in fortunes at the age of 35 and in January reached the semifinal of the Australian Open — 18 years after her previous appearance in the last four of a slam in 1999 at Wimbledon.

In Miami, she put out fifth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the previous round but the confident and in-form Pliskova proved to be a test too far.

The win was sweet revenge for Pliskova who had lost to the Croat in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in January and now has the best win-loss record of the year (23-3).

The Czech has won two out of four tournaments this season, triumphing in Brisbane and Doha.

The 25-year-old's victory in the Doha final came against Caroline Wozniacki and the pair could face each other again in the Miami semi-final, should the Dane be able to beat Czech Lucie Safarova.

Safarova, eliminated fourth-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova on Monday.