‘It doesn’t happen overnight!’ Danielle Collins PUMMELS past Iga Swiatek to reach her maiden grand slam final at the Australian Open
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Danielle Collins
With another ‘textbook-like’ performance in the semifinal of the 2022 Australian Open, Danielle Collins beats 2020 French Open champion Iga Swiatek to reach her first ever grand slam final. The American defeated Swiatek in straight sets 6-4,6-1 to enter the final.
Swiatek was the favorite going into the match but made too many errors and didn’t look anywhere close to her best. Collins was hitting the ball very hard and was on song right from the start. She broke Swiatek’s serve upfront and quickly took a lead. The Pole tried to comeback and played some really good tennis after getting broken. But she wasn’t able to get the break back and hence lost the set 4-6.
Although Collins won the set, Swiatek was able to take the momentum in the second set but a masterclass from the American at the start of the second set meant that she had an early break once again. The Pole had no answers to Collins’ baseline brilliance as she lost serve once again. Collins looked in hurry and absolutely cruised away with the set 6-1 to book her maiden major final spot.
‘So many years of hard work and hours of early age on court’: Collins
In the on court interview with Donna Vekic, Collins expressed her emotions on reaching her first major final and talked about the hardships he had to go through from the very beginning.
“It feels amazing! Its been such a journey and it doesn’t happen overnight. So many years of hard work and hours of early age on court. Yesterday I was talking about all those early mornings my dad would get up with me and practice with me before school. Its just incredible to be on this stage and especially with the health challenges, I’m just grateful. I couldn’t be happier,” the American said.
Collins was going all out during the match and revealed that hitting hard has been her ‘Plan A’ this tournament. She said: “I have certainly added a little bit of variety into the game since the last couple of years. This is my Plan A. I wanted to go out and execute this game plan as best as I could. It was working for me really well today, so I just sticked with it.”
In this tournament, Collins weirdly has never sat while changing ends and she clarified that this is because the clock is ticking very fast according to her.
“Normally I sit down but whatever reason in this tournament it seems like the clock is going quicker. I don’t really have time to sit down, actually I haven’t sat down the whole tournament. I have been standing up when I sleep at night[laughs],” she said.
Collins will now face top seed and tournament favorite Ashleigh Barty in the final on Saturday. She expressed her excitement of playing the final in Barty’s home country and addressed the importance of crowds in these tough COVID times.
“We’ve had some incredible battles over the years and to play against the No.1 player in the world in her home country, I think it’s going to be really spectacular. The energy the fans bring whether for me or for my opponent – I’m just grateful after everything with COVID that there are people here with incredible energy supporting us. I’m just excited to have everybody back. Looking forward to hopefully having a great match and battling the way with Ash,” she concluded.
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Lakshya Chopra
(2595 Articles Published)