She only has a few months of tennis left, but they will perhaps be the best of her career. While she announced her retirement from sport at the end of the season, Danielle Collins in any case won her biggest title on Saturday by winning the WTA 1000 in Miami, the third trophy of her career. The American, finalist of the 2022 Australian Open but only 53rd in the world, completed her great adventure in Florida by dominating Elena Rybakina, 4th at the WTA, in two sets (7-5, 6-3) and a little over two hours of play (2h02 precisely).
Floridian by birth, Danielle Collins couldn’t have asked for a better scenario. An outsider on paper as she already was in the quarter-final against Caroline Garcia or in the semi-final against Ekaterina Alexandrova, the American saw her determination and aggressiveness pay off this Saturday. Faithful from start to finish to her offensive tactics, she brought down a defeated Rybakina for the second time in a row in the final in Miami. The Kazakhstani seemed to pay for a lack of energy and especially her ineffectiveness on break points (1 converted out of… 11 obtained).
Collins’ rage to win made the difference
Collins set the tone from the outset in this final, taking advantage of every second opponent’s ball to attack her rival on the restart. She came close to breaking Rybakina from the start, who came away with a long-line backhand winner in the top corner on her first service game. Frequently in difficulty facing the American’s punch and her early shots, the Kazakhstani however seemed to find her rhythm little by little. But she made the great mistake of not converting her chances, four at 3-3, then another at 5-5, before cracking with three backhand fouls on her own commitment and seeing Collins take the lead (7-5 ).
Despite a long toilet break, Rybakina did not stop the opposing dynamic, the American again snatching her entry into the second act, therefore scoring four games in a row between 5-5 and 7-5, 2-0 . But the world number 4 ended up reacting, raising her voice particularly on the backhand side and being more violent in the lateral races. Returning to height, she had the opportunity to change the dynamic to 3-3. But here again, she lacked realism in her three new break opportunities.
Thanks to her punch and her rage to win, Collins won the last three games in a last-ditch effort, finishing on her 4th match point with a winning backhand counter. With her energy and mentality, she delighted the spectators at the Hard Rock Stadium who massively supported her. The thirty-year-old’s emotion was all the more pleasing to see as she knows that opportunities of this type will no longer be very numerous. Suffering from endometriosis, she decided to turn the tennis page at the end of the year. And who knows, maybe this decision helps him play the best tennis of his life.