Red-hot Danielle Collins recorded a powerful 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 23 seed Caroline Garcia of France on Wednesday to reach the Miami Open semifinals at Miami Gardens, Fla., for the second time in her career.
Collins had 22 winners and needed just 80 minutes to dispose of Garcia and improve to 4-0 all-time in the matchup. She converted a blistering 89.7 percent of her first-serve points (26 of 29) and didn’t face a single break point.
“I think, depending on the matchup, some people are more favorable against others,” Collins said. “I think Caro comes out here and fights her butt off. She hits some really strong shots … and I don’t think the set scores are a reflection of how close the match really is.
“Against someone like Caro, it forces me to be more concentrated, because I know I don’t want to give her an inch.”
Collins will face either No. 5 Jessica Pegula or No. 14 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in Friday’s semis.
The 30-year-old Collins also reached the Miami semis in 2018 when she lost to Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia.
Six years later, the former World No. 7 has won five straight matches. She lost her first set of the tournament to Bernarda Pera and has since won 10 consecutive sets.
“I feel like I’ve made a lot of physical improvements over the last couple weeks and made some adjustments within my game technically,” Collins told the Tennis Channel. “I think that’s helping me a lot with the accuracy and precision of my shots and being more consistent with my points.”
Collins, the 2022 Australian Open runner-up, has been extra hyped up due to the possibility of this being her last time playing in Miami. Earlier this year, the Floridian said she plans for this to be her final year on tour.
“With the way I’m playing, there’s certainly a lot to be pumped about,” Collins said. “I like to show the positive body language and the fan support I’m getting here is amazing.”
Garcia hit 12 winners but won just 11 total points against Collins’ serve.
–Field Level Media