Collins Extends Winning Streak To 10 At Charleston Open

Danielle Collins
Danielle Collins (photo: Charleston Tennis LLC)

CHARLESTON, S.C./WASHINGTON, April 5, 2024 (by Michael Dickens)

Less than a week after winning her first WTA 1000 title at the Miami Open, American Danielle Collins has continued her winning ways at the Credit One Charleston Open at LTP Daniel Island in the South Carolina Lowcountry.

On Thursday afternoon, the 30-year-old Collins ran her winning streak to nine with a hard-fought 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over defending champion and No. 2 seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia. The opening match of the day on Credit One Stadium lasted two hours and two minutes.

The victory over the World No. 6 Jabeur advanced the 22nd-ranked Collins to play No. 40 Sloane Stephens, another former Charleston Open (2016) champion later in the day due to Wednesday’s rain backing up the tournament schedule.

Stephens advanced Thursday afternoon over No. 14 seed Leylah Fernandez, 6-4 6-4, on Althea Gibson Court for her first win in four tries against the Canadian at the same time Collins was doing battle against Jabeur and fighting against the windy conditions, too.

“Ons is a tricky player, and she was coming up with a lot of great stuff,” Collins said after her win. “At times she was back to playing at the highest level. So, she was really challenging me.”

Collins saved eight of the 12 break points she faced and broke the Tunisian’s serve four times. She outpointed Jabeur 90-86.

“I think it was up-and-down match. I mean, it’s tough to play players that have confidence, and Danielle is playing really good,” Jabeur said in her post-match news conference after her fifth consecutive loss. “I wish I could get the win today, but I feel like already taking a set from her was a good start. So, I’ll try to keep it positive.”

Before Thursday evening, Collins and Stephens had met just once, at San Jose in 2021, won by Collins en route to winning the WTA 500 hard-court title in Northern California. This time, Collins started well, broke early, and won the opening set 6-2. Then, she broke Stephens in the second game of the second set and saved three break points during a marathon seven-deuce, 20-point game for a 5-2 advantage. Soon, she broke her fellow Floridian to win 6-2, 6-2, in 71 minutes and extend her winning streak to 10.

Collins, who saved all four break points she faced from Stephens, converted four of five break-point opportunities and outpointed her opponent 62-42. She has now won 20 of her past 21 sets.

“Obviously not easy coming out and playing two matches back-to-back, but very rewarding thing to be able to accomplish against two incredibly high-level players: a top six player and a Grand Slam champion,” said Collins in her post-match news conference.

“So, I should be able to take this and use it as confidence moving forward. Especially with the previous health and physical challenges that I’ve had, it’s a really rewarding day for me.”

Next, Collins will play No. 11 seed Elise Mertens of Belgium, who like Collins was a double winner Thursday. She beat No 7 seed Elina Svitolina for the third time in seven career meetings — and for the first time in three years — 6-4, 6-1. Earlier, the No. 30 Mertens defeated 100th-ranked French qualifier Varvara Gracheva, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, and Svitolina advanced against 107th-ranked Australian qualifier Daria Saville, 6-2, 6-4, in matches postponed by Wednesday’s rain.

Top seed Pegula sprints into quarterfinals

World No. 5 and top seed Jessica Pegula of the United States defeated No. 63 Magda Linette of Poland, 6-2, 6-2, in 59 minutes to be the first player to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round.

“The scoreline was straightforward, but I don’t think she was playing her best tennis,” Pegula said in an interview on Tennis Channel. “But I served really smart and I was playing really well in these conditions, which were tricky.

“Luckily, I was able to play the controlled, aggressive mentality in the wind and was able to pressure her. I think for her to try and be more aggressive in these conditions is tough. So, I think I drew some errors there.”

Pegula won 80 percent of her service points and converted four of five break-point chances. She did not face any break points and outpointed Linette 54-30 for her second career win over the Polish No. 3.

“It’s definitely something I’ve been working on,” Pegula said. “Today, it didn’t matter how it felt; it was just serve smart. I tried to throw in a lot more slice serves, not go for as many bigger serves.

“It’s all about placements in these conditions. When the wind is blowing your toss everywhere, you feel really uncomfortable. I did a good job of getting a high percentage of first serves in.”

Next, the American No. 1 will face No. 12 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who came back from a set and a break down to defeat 68th-ranked American Taylor Townsend, 6-7 (5), 6-3, 6-4, in two hours and 46 minutes.

Cristian upsets Navarro, faces Kasatkina next

Unseeded Jaqueline Cristian scored her third straight Charleston win — all against Americans —as she defeated No. 10 seed and hometown favorite Emma Navarro, 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, in two hours and 27 minutes. It was her third career Top-20 win and second in a row.

Earlier in the tournament, the 83rd-ranked Romanian defeated Sachia Vickery and followed it with an upset of No. 8 seed Madison Keys.

Cristian converted five of 13 break points and outpointed Navarro 105-89.

“Yeah, definitely not a great performance from my end,” Navarro said, in her post-match news conference. “Obviously, it was windy, tough conditions for sure. And credit to her, she played a great match, but, yeah, [I] definitely didn’t serve well, didn’t hit my forehand well, didn’t hit my backhand well. So, yeah, not my best today.”

Next, Cristian will face 2017 Charleston Open champion and current No. 4 seed Daria Kasatkina, who eliminated No. 15 seed Anhelina Kalinina of Ukraine, 6-1, 6-4, in an hour and 23 minutes on Court 3.

Kudermetova, Sakkari both win in straight sets

No. 3 seed Maria Sakkari of Greece and No. 9 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia, the 2021 Charleston Open champion, secured straight-set victories to set up a quarterfinal showdown.

Sakkari defeated 135th-ranked lucky loser Astra Sharma of Australia, 6-4, 6-1, in 90 minutes by converting four of six break points and out-scoring her opponent 70-55.

Meanwhile, Kudermetova held back No. 5 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil, 7-5, 6-1, in one-hour, 37 minutes. She outpointed Haddad Maia 64-50.

Around the Credit One Charleston Open

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, who has been on record as supporting the WTA Tour finals in Saudi
Arabia, gave her reaction after her Charleston Open loss to Danielle Collins to the WTA Tour’s decision Thursday to commit to playing the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from 2024-26.

“I’m very biased here, as you know. But, honestly, I’m very supportive for this decision,” the World No. 6 Jabeur said, giving a lengthy response in her post-match news conference. “As an Arab woman, as someone that grew up wanting to have more and more tournaments in Arab countries, obviously. I know some people, maybe here, have a different opinion about Saudi. I do understand, but I wish they could be open about hearing what I have to say or what women there have to say.

“I think it’s a great opportunity. I wish people would be more supportive, obviously. I mean, that’s the only tournament. They’re actually respecting us because they offered us very good prize money. Maybe not everything is about the money, but I see like — I don’t see any offer being the same as in Saudi. I feel, also, it’s a great opportunity for us to be there and continue for the changes that they’re making for women.

“I know how it was before, and I see how it is right now. I’ve been there a couple of times. And, honestly, I see a lot of comments about human rights all the time. But I do think like it’s a country, it’s getting there and giving a lot of more rights than any country, to be honest with you.”

Thursday’s Credit One Charleston Open results 

Friday’s Credit One Charleston Open order of play

By the numbers

Danielle Collins is on a 10-match winning streak, winning her first WTA 1000 title last week in Miami and defeating Paula Badosa in the first round on Tuesday, then Ons Jabeur and Sloane Stephen’s in the second and third rounds on Thursday. Ranked No. 71 the first week in February, Collins’ title run at the Miami Open last week boosted her ranking to No. 22.

For the record: The last time the top seed won the Credit One Charleston Open was in 2013 by Serena Williams. In the past 22 editions, the top seed has prevailed only twice.

“Quotable …”

“Yeah, two Americans, we’ll definitely have a really interesting crowd and a supportive one. Yeah, just looking forward to going out and battling against my long-time friend.

“I’ve known Sloane since we were like eight or nine years old. So, so crazy that we’re both playing on the biggest stage here.”

— Danielle Collins, after defeating defending champion Ons Jabeur, on the thought of playing fellow American Sloane Stephens in a Thursday evening featured match.

 

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