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USA’s Danielle Collins, ranked in the low 100s, the surprise of the Australian Tennis Open as she made her way into the Wednesday semifinals by stunning three seeded players

By Arnie Leshin 
Arnie Leshin

It was late afternoon in Australia and approaching 1:30 in the morning in my living room. In my almost 50 years of covering tennis, the last time I was up so late at a tennis match was when Jimmy Connors went about four hours before disposing of Bjorn Borg in the semifinals of the US Open.

 

When Connors took his tired body into the interview room, it was now his birthday and he spoke of the bats flying around the court, and the tough match against Sweden’s Borg. It was now 12:30 a.m., the stands had emptied, and Connors was still speaking. We even sang Happy Birthday to him.

 

But now, in the Rod Laver Arena, it was a women’s quarterfinal of the prestigious Australian Open, and I don’t follow the serve and volley sport that much anymore. Except for when it’s something interesting, and this was.

 

It was 25-year-old Danielle Collins of the United States in pink and white, and ranked in the low 100s, as the main attraction, facing Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who has been a top-10 player and a mainstay at major tournaments where she’s even won.

 

Collins was an actual unknown expect to her family and coaches. She is from St. Petersburg, Fla., had played some tennis with friend and other players, but was undecided on which road to take when she enrolled at University of Virginia in 2015.

 

“They already had their team set up,” she said, “and didn’t pay much attention to me, so I practiced and practiced, and my sophomore year I made the team.”

 

Not only did she make the team, but she also won the NCAA championship that year, and again her senior year. From there, she must have kept her tennis racket under her pillow.

 

But professional tennis wasn’t the same as college tennis. Her first year, she won two of eight matches, and didn’t qualify for major tournaments. This year, she began at 0-3, and her record improved to 10-6 when she was named a wild card for the Austrailan Open with odds of 500-1 for her to win the thing. So she breezed through it and made the drew.

 

But she didn’t appear on court, on television, until after she won her first match at 6-3, 6-3 over 19thseed Amanda Garcia of Spain. Then came a stunner, a 6-0, 6-2 win over 2nd seeded Angelique Kerber of Germany. That opened eyes, for Kerber was one of the best on tour and had won a number of major tournaments. For this one, her odds were 4-1.

 

Collins said that finally winning a major game brought her more confidence and her next test came against 16th seeded Anastasia Pavlyuckenkova of Russia, another veteran with a strong resume and who had finished in the top three in some majors.

 

But when set one was played, Pavlyuckenkova was in charge, giving Collins the run around, moving her into errors, and won 6-2. But in the second set, the American settled down, began hitting winners, serving better and going up 4-0. When she evened sets at one apiece with a 7-5 win, she pumped her fist, looked to her coaches and family, and was sky-high, fired-up as the break came before the deciding third set.

 

Collins didn’t stay on break that long, coming back out about 10 minutes before the concerned Palyuckenkova did. She was jumping up and down, stretching, and knew her game was back.

 

Palyuckenkova was no slouch. She had beaten 5thseeded Sloane Stephens of the USA in the fourth round. But it was Collins’ time and the majority of the crowd were in the favor of the feisty underdog.

 

She didn’t miss a beat. She served four aces and easily won the first game. Then she displayed the power of her forehand to slam the ball past Palyuckenkova, did the same with her backhand, and was ahead 5-0 when she dropped game six.

 

But it didn’t appear to bother her. She served for the match, and after the review showed that her opponent’s last shot was long, she rapped on her racket, waved to the crowd, and shook Palyuckenkova’s hand at the net.

 

Now she made her first semis. Now she was going to go against 8th seeded Petra Kvitova Wednesday. Not long after her match ended, Kvitova handily defeated crowd favorite Ashleigh Barty of Austrailia in straight sets.

 

When asked about her only match against Kvitova that she lost in straight set, Collins was quick to answer that that was on grass.

 

“I didn’t even practice on this court today,” she said. “It’s been a long journey here and I don’t expect a letdown. I love when things get tough, I talk a lot of crap, I’m feisty, and I show my emotion.”

 

The commentators on the air, Chris Evert, John and Patrick McEnroe, Pam Shriver, and Lindsey Davenport, were impressed, and had nothing but kudos for Collins. Hopefully, she can shock another high seed.  

 

And it’s neat that she decided on which road to take.

 

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