Danielle Collins stunned the tennis world after beating Iga Swiatek for the first time in her career in the third round of the Italian Open. The American had lost to the former World No.6 on six previous occasions before their meeting. She revealed in Strasbourg that she was shocked by the level of attention on Swiatek’s poor display.
Collins was the underdog going into her match against Swiatek. The last time they met on clay, Swiatek had overcome her at the Paris Olympics. However, this time around, Collins produced a spirited performance to crush Swiatek’s hopes of defending the Italian Open.
After the match, the media attention went to Swiatek, who had hit 22 unforced errors, twice as many as Collins did. The shocking display was the main discussion as the Polish star is known for playing her best tennis on clay. In fact, she’s the only active player to have won more than 100 clay-court matches in her career.
Also, the 1-6, 5-7 loss was not the first time Swiatek had been beaten on clay this season. She was humbled by Jelena Ostapenko, who defeated her for the sixth consecutive time at the Stuttgart Open. In Madrid, Coco Gauff outplayed her at the semi-finals 6-1, 6-1, crushing her hopes for a title defense.
Collins was not pleased with the media focus on Swiatek’s errors over her outstanding performance. She added that despite not getting the attention, she was happy to end her losing streak against Swiatek. Their head-to-head record currently stands 1-6. I thought I played really well against Iga. Collins said via Tennis Channel
I didn’t get a ton of credit for it after the match, of course. It was more about how poorly she played and everything. That can make it difficult to be able to celebrate your wins sometimes, when you feel like you have a good match and are playing well and it’s just like whatever. So I was happy about it but the feeling with that wasn’t as fun as I imagined.
Collins crashed out in the next round after losing to Elina Svitolina in straight sets. The American has been struggling this season, and it has shown in her ranking as she recently dropped out of the top 40 in the WTA. She’s currently playing at the Strasbourg Open in a bid to find form.
Danielle Collins to face Emma Raducanu in the third round of the Strasbourg Open
Danielle Collins opened her account at the Strasbourg Open against 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin. The former earned a 6-1, 1-6, 6-2 victory in the all-American clash in the first round. The World No.46 will face Emma Raducanu next as she hopes to reach the final like she did last year.
She reached the final last year but lost to Madison Keys . Raducanu has won four matches on clay this season and has been playing great tennis in recent weeks. In fact, she defeated Daria Kasatkina for the first time in Strasbourg to reach the second round. It will be their first meeting on tour as they seek to get to the third round of the Strasbourg Open.
Meanwhile, when it comes down to experience in playing at the Strasbourg Open, Collins stands tall against Raducanu. She reached the round of 16 in her debut back in 2018 before reaching the final last year. However, she’s currently not the favorite to win the tournament due to her form this season.
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