Danielle Collins of the US on Sunday won her second career title in just a two-week span, holding off fourth seed Daria Kasatkina of Russia 6-3, 6-7 (10/12), 6-1 after a thrilling second-set tiebreaker in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.
Collins, seeded seventh, won her first championship in Palermo, Italy, on July 25.
The 27-year-old dropped just two games in her semi-final rout of Croatian Ana Konjuh. On Sunday, she reminded herself she would have to be patient to outlast Kasatkina — and there would be some mistakes.
Photo: AFP
“I got off to a pretty good start in the first set and played some solid tennis. I don’t think Daria was playing her best in the first set. In the second set she really stepped her game up at 5-3 when I was up,” Collins said. “Today I executed my game plan well. It’s tough when you go against an opponent who runs down so many balls, anticipates so well, because a lot of times you’re having to win the point six, seven, eight times.”
Kasatkina, 24, beat top seed Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-2 in Saturday’s semi-finals to reach her fourth championship match of the season, but missed out on her third title in that span.
She earned victories at the Phillip Island Trophy in Melbourne, Australia, and the St Petersburg Ladies Open.
“Tough match with drama in the second set, but obviously Danielle was playing great tennis,” Kasatkina said. “She’s now on the wave, I would say. She’s playing amazing.”
It was the third career meeting between them and second on hard courts this year after Kasatkina beat Collins 6-2, 6-7 (6/8), 6-1 in a 2 hour, 29 minute match in February in Melbourne.
In the doubles final, Darija Jurak of Croatia and Andreja Klepac of Slovenia beat Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani of Brazil 6-1, 7-5.
It was the third year the tournament was played in San Jose after moving from Stanford. It was canceled last year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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