A highly-vocal Danielle Collins is through to the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career after ousting Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur.
The world No.57, who had only won one match at Roland Garros prior to this year, rallied to a 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, victory in an encounter that originally was meant to be played on Monday before getting postponed due to poor weather. On a dry but cold day in Paris, Collins got the better of an at times lacklustre Jabeur with the help of 25 winners. Although the showdown was far from straightforward for the American.
“I kind of felt like I was in the driver’s seat up until 6-4, 3-0. But then, you know, she’s (Jabeur) tricky and she started to serve really well,” Collins said afterwards. “She hit some drop shots and shots which I was not really expecting. It broke my rhythm and I lost my way a little bit but I just needed to stay positive.”
Playing the 30th seed for the first time on the Tour, Collins struggled to find a way to break through early on. Nine games went according to serve as the American let out almighty screams during and after points which echoed throughout the Philippe-Chatrier Court. Eventually she got the breakthrough she wanted whilst ahead 5-4. A winning double-handed backhand passing shot moved her to two set points before she clinched the opener with the help of a Jabeur error.
It looked as if the former Australian Open semi-finalist would stroll to victory after starting the second set by winning 11 out of 12 points played en route to a 3-0 lead. However, her rival wasn’t going down without a fight. After lacking a spark in her tennis early on, a increasingly confident Jabeur finally regained some of her form as she produced a combination of drop shots and slice to clinch five games in what was a dramatic turnaround to force the match into a decider.
With €283,500 and a place in the Roland Garros quarter-finals at stake for the winner, the cat and mouse chase between Collins and Jabeur continued. Four breaks came and went before Collins became the first to hold and nudge ahead 3-2 in the final set. The roller-coaster tussle between the two continued until the very end. Leading 5-4 Collins had her first match point following a Jabeur double fault, which was the Tunisian’s first and only one in the match. Then a forehand error from her opponent sealed victory for Collins, who is currently being coached by Nicolas Almagro.
“Nico and I only started working together last week. I didn’t have a coach at the US Open so I tried to find somebody right away and luckily I found somebody with an incredible career,” she commented about the collaboration.
“Somebody who was a top 10 player, so it is a really good treat to be able to work with him.”
The reward for Collins will be a meeting with Sofia Kenin in the next round. A player who she thrashed 6-3, 6-1, in Adelaide earlier this year.
“She played a good match,” Kenin reflected on their previous meeting. “I didn’t feel like I could get my rhythm. But we’ll see how it’s going to go. She’s obviously playing well and she’s aggressive.”
The quarter-final match between Collins and Kenin will take place tomorrow.
