Mirjana Lucic-Baroni gave a shock-filled Australian Open its greatest surprise by reaching her first grand slam semi-final in 18 years with victory over fifth seed Karolina Pliskova.
Lucic-Baroni, who turns 35 in March, made the last four at Wimbledon in 1999 but has spent the intervening years losing in the early rounds of major tournaments or skipping them completely.
She did not play a single grand slam between 2004 and 2009 as personal problems took hold including injuries and financial difficulty. She also claims she was mentally and physically abused by her father Marinko, allegations he denies.
But now the Croatian is preparing for an Australian Open semi-final against Serena Williams on Friday after beating world number five Pliskova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to continue her fairytale run.
When Pliskova, the fifth seed and many observers' favourite to win the title, missed her last forehand, Lucic-Baroni was overcome with emotion.
She knelt down in the middle of Rod Laver Arena, crossed her chest and then sobbed with her face planted into the court.
"I can't believe this," Lucic-Baroni said moments later. "This is crazy, the only thing I can say is 'God is good'. I can't believe it, I'm in semi-finals again. I feel in shock right now.
"One day I will say a long, big story about things that happened to me but I could never dream about being here again."
She continued: "I know this means a lot to any player, reaching the semi-finals, but to me this is overwhelming. I will never, ever, ever forget this day and this last couple of weeks.
"This has truly made my life and everything bad that happened, it makes it okay. Just the fact I was this strong and it was worth fighting this hard is really incredible."
When Lucic-Baroni, aged 17, was denied a place in the Wimbledon final by Steffi Graf, Andy Murray was 12, Manchester United had just won the treble and Ricky Martin was about to have a number one hit with Livin' La Vida Loca.
However, after emigrating from Croatia to Florida, along with her mother and four siblings, Lucic-Baroni's tennis career nosedived and by the start of 2000, she was already ranked outside the top 200.
She missed every Australian Open from 2001 to 2010 and in the six years since had never made it past the first round. She now stands one win away from the final.
Lucic-Baroni had both her calf and thigh heavily strapped against Pliskova and had to take a medical time-out towards the end of the decider for an injury to her left leg.
"I was concerned. I didn't know if I had it in me to finish it," Lucic-Baroni said.
Lucic-Baroni last played Williams at Wimbledon in 1998 and the American won 6-3 6-0.
Williams was then still yet to win her first grand slam title but here she is going for an Open era record 23rd and her seventh at Melbourne Park.
"I remember winning. I was so excited because I was so young," Williams said.
"Honestly, we have totally different games now, the both of us. We both have gone through a lot. We both have survived, and here we are, which I think is a really remarkable story."
Williams beat Britain's Johanna Konta 6-2 6-3 to reach the last four of a grand slam for the 34th time.
Venus Williams plays another American Coco Vandeweghe in the other semi-final, also on Friday.
