Danielle Collins reached the Miami semifinals six years ago as a qualifier, and at 53rd place, she is the lowest-ranked semifinalist in the tournament.
Danielle Collins and Ekaterina Alexandrova will meet in the semifinals of the WTA Miami Open after victories in the round of 16 on Wednesday.
Collins cruised into the final four with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 win over Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia before Alexandrova emerged triumphant from a nearly two-hour three-set battle with the fifth seed American Jessica Pegula.
Thursday will see the opening semifinal between Miami’s three-time winner Victoria Azarenka and fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina, the tournament’s highest-ranked player.
Garcia entered the match against Collins following a surprise victory over third-seeded American Coco Gauff, but failed to gain a foothold against the Floridian.
Garcia still appeared troubled by a right shoulder injury and received treatment early in the second set.
Collins broke to take a 5-3 lead in the first set, then held serve throughout the set, then in the second set, broke in the third game and never looked back as she won the victory in one hour and 19 minutes.
Collins reached the Miami semifinals six years ago as a qualifier, and at 53rd place, he is the lowest-ranked semifinalist in the tournament.
The 30-year-old American is now 4-0 against Garcia and has yet to lose a set to the Frenchwoman, but said the numbers don’t tell the real story.
“I think against someone like Caro it forces me to be more focused. I know I don’t want to give her an inch, otherwise she can get in there,” Collins said.
Garcia said she felt the pace of back-to-back tournaments.
“It’s been a long two weeks for my body, between the back at first and then the shoulder coming back,” she told reporters, adding that the shoulder problem was a recurrence of an injury anterior.
“I think it’s nothing too serious but (the shoulder) is always quite problematic for a tennis player,” she said, before adding that Collins had played “an incredible match”.
Collins plans to retire at the end of the year, but while she acknowledged that she has a relaxed outlook on her game, she rejected the idea that this was a result of her impending departure from the sport.
“I think I feel pretty relaxed, but that could be due to a number of things. I have a new hobby. I play a little more golf, I run more, I do Pilates, all these different things,” she said.
“My dog is here. I feel relaxed because I can be with him at night. I don’t know,” she said with a smile.
Favorite at home
Alexandrova beat local favorite Pegula 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, showing great courage in a third set where both players showed signs of fatigue.
Pegula broke to lead 4-3 in the first and broke again to win the set, but the Russian fought back, breaking in the first game of the second set.
Once again, 14th-seeded Alexandrova broke early in the third but she let Pegula back into the set when she double-faulted on a break point to leave the set balanced at 3-3.
The two had a fantastic rally in the next game, which Pegula managed to hold, but at 4-4, Alexandrova delivered the deciding blow, with Pegula going long on a backhand return on the second break point.
The Russian held on for victory and fell to her knees in joy at the result.
Alexandrova, who beat world number one Iga Swiatek in the previous round, said it was difficult to break down Pegula’s strong defense.
“I didn’t understand how it was possible to return that ball, it kept coming back. It was everywhere so I had to do something,” she said. “I tried to wait and take advantage of all the opportunities that presented themselves.”
The win was Alexandrova’s third against a top-five player this year and she said her success was the result of her patience.
“You have to wait and wait and something will happen – and then you have to use it,” she said.
