Danielle Collins, who had not won a match at a Grand Slam tournament before this year, beat Angelique Kerber on Sunday in the fourth round of the second season and finished the most impressive result of the Australian Open with a 6-0 win and a 6: 2 victory That took only 55 minutes.
Collins commanded the game from the beginning and dictated the game by aggressive attack, especially with their two-handed backhand. She scored 29 winners in the game, compared to only six Kerber.
Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion from Germany, had few solutions for Collins and could not use their counterweight to gain control of the game.
“It was not my day,” said Kerber. “I did not play tennis, I can play. She played really well. I think she played one of her best matches, to be honest. She beat every ball on the court. “
After losing the first set in just 20 minutes, Kerber left the Margaret Court Arena playing field. Obviously, he tried to change the momentum of the game. Collins grinned while she waited.
Kerber won the first two points after she returned, playing with a renewed game and encouragement screams, but Collins once again announced her presence in the game by calling “guy!” Back in Kerber shouted the third point after he had hit a drop shot winner.
Collins’ contentious attitude is well-known in tennis, and something she readily recognizes and embraces calls her “only part of the deal with me” in court.
“I mean, you all know, I’m my own person. I’m cheeky, “she said,” I love making it a war somehow, and if someone wants to face my casual mistakes, I have no problem getting back to them instantly and turning it into a lively game. I love that, embrace it, I love it when things get competitive. “
The stubbornness in their tennis also extends to off-court pursuits.
“Even karaoke – I do not have a good voice, but I always try to do the best I can,” said Collins, a 25-year-old Floridian. “If I’m not, I’ll still say I’m the best. You have to believe it, right? “
This imperturbability was clear when Collins ended her victory. Kerber broke in the first game of the second set after their verbal transfer, but Collins collapsed in the next game and then pulled himself before Kerber before, when she broke again 4-2.
One of Collins’ coaches, Mat Cloer, said she had played “pretty flawlessly” in the first set and done what she needed to keep up the momentum.
They knew after the first sentence that they would come out to make the second push, “said Cloer of Kerber. “And she did, and Danielle really did it very well. She showed great composure, but did not come back. She lost the first game of the second set, but showed that she was a bit fiery in Angie.
He added, “I think that allowed her to show ‘I’m still here and I’m going to endure’, which in my opinion did not make Angie easy – and Danielle just kept going.”
Collins, two-time undergraduate national undergraduate at the University of Virginia, is the first college player to reach the women’s quarter-final at a grand slam since Lisa Raymond at the 2004 Australian Open.
“I believe that college has helped me develop as a person,” said Collins. “I really know who I am, the kind of person I am, what I want, what I want to do with my life, what I want to do with my tennis.
“I have other interests and passions besides tennis. Maybe I can relax a bit more than other people because they’ve been playing tennis all their lives and not really doing much. “
Collins did her homework before she achieved the biggest success of her career.
“I had a clear idea of what I would do,” said Collins. “I showed her from the first moment that I would not let her in, that I would dictate the whole way. I stuck to my schedule. It worked well for me, the sailing was pretty smooth. I just felt great. “
Collins was a quick study in the elite of professional tennis. A year ago, she reached the 162nd place and broke through last March, the semifinals of the Miami Open. She beat Venus Williams on the way.
Collins, now ranked 35 in the rankings, will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (44th) on Tuesday to reach a place in the semifinals after Pavlyuchenkova’s number 5 Sloane Stephens, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6- 3, upset. Simon Goffin, coach of Pavlyuchenkova, said he knew Collins could face an opponent like Kerber.
“She really likes those big stadiums to play against the seeds, a bit of an outsider,” said Goffin of Collins. “She really likes that. She is a tough challenger. She likes a big challenge, she likes a fight, so I’m not surprised. “
Collins did not hinder her hopes for the next game. “Hopefully another startling tennis match for me,” she said in her court interview. It was one of several answers that caused a surprised gasp in the listeners who were not used to such unapologetic self-esteem.
Collins said she was alive with antagonism. “I love the competition,” she said. “Whether people are for me or against me, I’m not really confused. I love it. In any case. I kind of like it more when people sometimes cheer me on, because I want to bring them back to prove them wrong. ”
Despite the ability of Collins to build their ranking, the success of Grand Slams came only at this tournament. Her victory in the first round against the 14th Julia Görges was her first victory in a Grand Slam.
In her press conference, Collins pointed out that her draws in her three previous Grand Slam games had been anything but enviable, as she broke out against a top 20 opponent each time.
“I did everything I could in these situations,” Collins said about her losses to Caroline Wozniacki, Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka. “Sometimes it just does not work the way you want it to. Everyone gets the shot on the cake. At the moment, I certainly get mine. I’m fine. I’m just focused on that. “
In her post-trial interview, Collins made it clear that she was confident she would make more Slut successes.
“I have not won a Grand Slam match before,” she said. “But I have to tell you: I think it will continue to happen.”
