Danielle Collins’ favorite player, for as long as she can remember, has been Venus Williams. Clearly, she was not star-struck when facing her idol.
Collins got the biggest win of her professional career on Wednesday night, shocking eighth-seeded Williams 6-2, 6-3 in the Miami Open quarter-finals.
Collins needed to survive two qualifying matches before making the main draw at Key Biscayne, and is now to meet sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko the semi-finals.
Photo: AFP
Ostapenko got her spot in the semi-finals by ousting fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (7/5) and is now to get the upstart Collins with a berth in tomorrow’s final at stake.
In the other women’s semi-final, 13th seed Sloane Stephens is set to meet three-time Miami champion Victoria Azarenka.
“The first time I saw Venus in the locker room, I nearly cried,” Collins said. “I mean, I’ve idolized her my whole life. She’s been my favorite player for forever. This is such a special moment, I’m just trying to wrap my head around it.”
Collins topped US Open finalist Madison Keys earlier this month at Indian Wells and made a much bigger statement with this win.
She threw both fists into the air when Williams could not handle a serve on Collins’ second match point, and even the three-time champion at Key Biscayne gave her a big smile when they shook hands at the net.
“I’m just starting to finally put all of the pieces together,” said Collins, the 2014 and 2016 NCAA champion at the University of Virginia.
Collins, No. 93 in the world for a few more days, will more than double her career earnings when the money from Miami arrives.
She arrived in Key Biscayne with US$305,385 in career earnings, which she will add at least US$327,965 to by advancing to the semi-finals.
She is also going to soar in the world rankings, to no lower than 67th.
No qualifier has ever gone this deep at Key Biscayne, although Collins looked perfectly comfortable on the stage.
She rarely faced trouble, offered confident fist pumps for much of the night and set the tone by breaking Williams — who has been playing professional matches for about as long as the 24-year-old has been alive — with her opening chance in each set.
And now Collins, who took the more unusual path through college to professional life, still has a shot at becoming perhaps Miami’s most surprising champion.
“You don’t have to do it the traditional way,” Williams said.
For as easy as Collins made it look on Wednesday night, John Isner had an even easier time in his men’s singles quarter-final.
Big-serving Isner made the Miami semi-finals for the second time in four years, needing just more than an hour to overpower South Korea’s Chung Hyeon 6-1, 6-4.
The 14th seed had 13 aces, won all but one of his 32 first-serve points and avenged a loss to 19th-seeded Chung in his first match of the year in Auckland in January.
“I played extremely well,” said Isner, who dropped six of his first eight matches of the year before arriving in Miami. “Every match I’ve played in this tournament, I’ve gotten better. I’ve gotten stronger and that’s a very, very good sign.”
While Isner was broken twice by Chung when they met in Auckland, he faced only one break point on Wednesday.
“It’s perfect conditions,” said Isner, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 semi-finals at Key Biscayne. “I’ve played well here in the past and I’m so happy that I’m playing well here again.”
He will hope that trend continues in the semi-finals.
Isner — who ousted second-seeded Marin Cilic earlier this week — is next to face Argentine fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro, who rallied to beat 20th seed Milos Raonic of Canada 5-7, 7-6 (7/1), 7-6 (7/3) in the late match on Wednesday in a slugfest that lasted nearly three hours.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
A stunning Lamine Yamal strike on Thursday helped crown Barcelona La Liga champions with a 2-0 win over local rivals RCD Espanyol, with victory ensuring Real Madrid cannot catch them at the top of the table. Yamal’s effort and Fermin Lopez’s goal took Hansi Flick’s side seven points clear of Los Blancos with two matches remaining, to clinch Barcelona’s 28th title and complete a superb domestic treble. Only the UEFA Champions League title escaped an exciting young Barca side this season, as they won the league for the second time in six years, at Espanyol’s ground again just as in 2022-2023. Back then,
Jannik Sinner on Thursday marched into the semi-finals of the Italian Open after destroying Casper Ruud in straight sets 6-0, 6-1, while Coco Gauff won a marathon three-set battle with China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the women’s singles final. American Gauff is to face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in today’s title match after pulling through 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4) in a match that lasted over three-and-a-half hours. Ruud was supposed to be Sinner’s toughest test in Rome since he came back from his three-month doping ban, as the Norwegian came into the match in hot form on clay after winning in
RSS