“I had to put the pressure on” Danielle Collins describes her THRILLING Comeback against Elise Mertens!
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Danielle Collins
27th seeded Danielle Collins survives an epic 3-setter battle against the 19th seed Elise Mertens to reach the quarter-finals of the 2022 Australian Open. Collins won the match 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in a long 2 hour and 51 minute battle on the Rod Laver Arena to reach the last-8 of the Slam for the second time in her career.
Mertens had 8 aces, 9 double faults, 33 winners, 29 unforced errors and converted 4 of her 8 breakpoints to win 104 points. Collins from the other side had 1 ace, 7 double faults, 45 winners, 41 unforced errors and won just 5 of her 18 breakpoints to edge out the Belgian with 108 points to win the match and continue her run at Melbourne Park.
“I think I had my ups and downs during the matches mentally and physically. Elise was really working me to the max. She is one of the best anticipators on tour. Some of the points were incredible, the balls she was getting back and shots that I thought were winners sometimes weren’t.
“I had to put the pressure on and put in big shots because that’s sometimes that’s all you can do against such a good anticipator,” said Collins during her on-court interview after a marathon match against Mertens and securing her place in the last-8 as the spectators in the stadium gave her big applause for an impressive fight she put in.
Another big test for Danielle Collins in the quarter-finals
Collins will now await the winner of the match between Simona Halep and Alize Cornet as that player will be the one battling with Collins in the quarter-finals. While Simona has been a 2-time Grand Slam champion and a former finalist at the Australian Open, Cornet is yet to reach the quarter-finals of any Slam in her career with her best results at all Slams being reaching the 4th round.
While Collins has dropped sets in two of her four matches, Halep reached the 4th round in all straight-set wins while Cornet dropped 1 set on her way to the clash with Halep.
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Sarthak Shitole
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