Red-Hot Collins Blazes Her Way To Charleston Open Victory Over Badosa

Danielle Collins, Charleston Open
Danielle Collins (photo: Charleston Tennis LLC)

CHARLESTON, S.C./WASHINGTON, April 3, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

As first round play continued and the second round got underway at the Credit One Charleston Open in the South Carolina Lowcountry Tuesday, a host of Americans – including two Grand Slam champions, the newest WTA 1000 titlist and the No. 1 seed – were all in action on the LTP Daniel Island green clay.

Just 72 hours after garnering her first WTA 1000 title at the Miami Open – the biggest crown of her career – American Danielle Collins kept her winning vibes alive in Charleston. The 22nd-ranked Floridian defeated former World No. 2 Paula Badosa of Spain, 6-1, 6-4, in 81 minutes, much to the delight of the fans who filled Credit One Stadium. It was her second straight win over the 82nd-ranked Spaniard, who has lost four of her last five matches while struggling to recover from a spinal stress fracture of the L4 vertebrae as well as calf and adductor injuries and is now 5-7 this season.

“I’m just getting the clay under my feet,” Collins said in her on-court interview after her latest victory. She drove five hours home to St. Petersburg, Fla. after winning the Miami title on hard courts, then flew to Charleston on Monday.

Collins had one practice on clay before her match with Badosa. “I’m just trying to adjust as much as possible. It’s a different game style coming out here,” she said.

“You have to be versatile and flexible. For a certain part of the match, I was. I’m hoping things get better with each match.”

After recently announcing her retirement at the end of the season, Collins, 30, has now won eight straight matches and is now 17-7 for the season. Her 17 main-draw wins is tied for fifth best on the WTA Tour this season.

Collins, who dominated with her first serve and ripping returns, fired eight aces and hit 28 winners overall while making only 15 unforced errors. She converted five of six break-point opportunities and outpointed Badosa 65-44.

Next, Collins, who is making her third appearance in Charleston and was a 2019 quarterfinalist, will face defending champion and this year’s No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in a featured match on Wednesday evening. “This is going to be a tough battle,” she admitted. Collins owns the head-to-head lead against Jabeur 2-1.

“This is all our favorite event. We love coming” Collins added. “I wasn’t going to miss this tournament my last season. This is a really special place.”

2016 champion Stephens wins 15th career match at Charleston

Sloane Stephens is a familiar presence in Charleston, where she’s making her 11th tournament appearance. The 2017 US Open champion won the Charleston Open title eight years ago in 2016 and twice has been a quarterfinalist, in 2019 and 2021, losing both times to eventual champions Madison Keys and Veronika Kudermetova.

Back in the Lowcountry, the 31-year-old Stephens from Plantation, Fla. took on No. 53 Magdalena Frech of Poland, whom she had beaten twice. Although it had been over 300 days since either played on clay, the day’s opening match on the Credit One Stadium court was dominated by Stephens, who won 6-0, 6-2 in 66 minutes to advance to Wednesday’s second round against No. 14 seed Leylah Fernandez of Canada, the 2021 US Open finalist, in their first meeting on clay.

The 40th-ranked Stephens took full advantage of her six breaks of Frech’s serve, hit 16 winners, won 77 percent of her service points and outpointed the Polish No. 2 56-28. Frech was limited to just five winners and committed 18 unforced errors. The win leveled Stephens’s 2024 win-loss record at 8-8.

“I came out here with a game plan and stuck to it the whole time,” Stephens said in her on-court interview. “I did really well.

“I always love playing here. I’ve won here before. Always good memories coming back. I’m really pleased so many people came out.”

Townsend’s dominant serve the difference against Kenin

An All-American clash between No. 68 Taylor Townsend and 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin, now ranked 57th, turned out to be a one-sided affair. It was won by the powerful Townsend, 6-3, 6-3, in an hour and 22 minutes on Althea Gibson Court.

It was the second Charleston meeting between the two foes and first since Kenin won 6-4, 6-3 in the first round of qualifying back in 2017. Tuesday’s encounter produced a very different outcome.

The 27-year-old lefty, who was born in Chicago, dominated her win by hitting 10 aces – five in each set – while dropping just three points on her first serve. She was broken just once, converted four of nine break points and outpointed Kenin 69-49. She improved to 10-9 lifetime against American opponents. Kenin has struggled this season, going 1-9, while losing eight straight.

“I think I was most pleased with how I was able to execute my game plan from start to finish,” Townsend said during an interview with Tennis Channel. The win improved her season win-loss record to 11-7.

“I came out playing really well and Sofia is such a good player, so solid and can really hit any shot from anywhere on the court,” Townsend added. “I’m really happy with how I was able to execute my strategy and not deviate from it too much. Overall, it was a tight match and the score showed it.”

On Wednesday, Townsend will play No. 6 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia.

Around the Charleston Open

• World No. 7 and third seed Maria Sakkari of Greece made her season debut on clay a successful one. She defeated No. 74 Viktoriya Tomova of Bulgaria, 6-3, 6-3, in one hour and 20 minutes to advance to the third round against either No. 16 seed Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine or 135th-ranked Australian lucky loser Astra Sharma, who play Wednesday. It was her first match in Charleston in five years following a quarterfinal run in 2019.

Sakkari finished with 25 winners, including a nifty sixth-shot forehand winner on match point. She converted four of eight break-point tries and outpointed Tomova 69-48. The win improved Sakkari’s win-loss record against opponents outside the Top 50 to 5-1 this season.

• Tuesday’s night session featured World No. 5 and top seed Jessica Pegula of the United States, a Charleston semifinalist last year, and No. 8 seed Madison Keys, the 2019 Charleston champion.

Pegula battled past No. 264 Amanda Anisimova, 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (3), in a two-hour, 26-minute thriller that took four match points to decide the outcome. Pegula gained her first match point ahead 5-4 on Anisimova’s serve, but was unable to close it out. Then, after jumping out to a 6-1 advantage in the decisive tie-break, she finally put away the victory when Anisimova fired a seventh-shot forehand wide.

“It’s always a tough one, playing Amanda, because she is just a really great ball striker,” Pegula said in her post-match news conference. “She can really take the racquet out of your hands. … It was a really great match, I thought, especially the last set was super high level.”

Pegula finished with seven aces and 30 overall winners to 11 unforced errors, while Anisimova tallied 42 winners but accumulated 34 unforced errors. Each broke the other’s serve four times and Pegula outpointed her opponent 116-105. Next, Pegula will face No. 63 Magna Linette of Poland, who rallied to upset No. 13 seed Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, 0-6, 6-4, 6-3, in Thursday’s third round.

Meanwhile, the American No. 3 Keys lost to 83rd-ranked Jaqueline Cristian of Romania, who rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. Cristian converted six of 15 break points and outpointed the 18th-ranked Keys 88-83.

• Other first-round singles winners advancing include: No. 47 Caroline Dolehide of the United States, No. 56 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy, No. 73 Ashlyn Krueger, and 135th-ranked lucky loser Astra Sharma of Australia.

• First-round doubles winners advancing to the quarterfinals include: No. 1 seeds Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the United States and Ellen Perez of Australia; Hao-Ching Chan of Taiwan and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia; and Eri Hozumi and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan.

Tuesday’s Credit One Charleston Open

Wednesday’s Credit One Charleston Open order of play

By the numbers

Top seed Jessica Pegula hasn’t lost to an opponent ranked outside the Top 100 this season. She’s 4-0 following her win against No. 264 Amanda Anisimova.

“Quotable …”

“To come back to Charleston feels great. The clay, the people, the energy. … I hope I can put the past few months behind me and start a good season here.”

— Ons Jabeur, World No. 6 and defending Charleston Open champion, during her pre-tournament news conference. Jabeur (2-5), who has lost four straight matches, including her last three opening-round matches, will face Miami Open champion Danielle Collins Wednesday evening.

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