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American Danielle Collins with a dominant showing in the semifinal clash stormed into her first career WTA 1000 final registering a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No.14 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday night at the Miami Open.
Collins just needed 75 minutes to dispatch Alexandrova. The unseeded player will face No.4 seed Elena Rybakina for the title at Hard Rock Stadium on Saturday. "I've had a couple of good years here, but this is definitely the most memorable," Collins said as quoted by WTA. "I followed all of [Alexandrova's] matches this tournament, and it was so fun watching her. We have a similar game style, so it's tricky when it's like that. Because of that, I had to concentrate harder, had to react faster, and it really forced me to play at my highest level," he added. Collins blasted 21 winners in 17 games, while Alexandrova only hit 11 and generated 12 break points. She broke Alexandrova's serve four times during the win. Collins is the first American to reach the Miami final since Sloane Stephens in 2018, when she won the title. Only four Americans have reached the final of this tournament in the last 15 years, and Collins and Stephens join the Williams sisters in doing so. The final will be Collins' fifth career meeting with Rybakina. Rybakina leads 3-1 in head-to-head meetings, including a three-set victory in Abu Dhabi in February, where she won the title. Collins did, however, win the title at the tournament in which she defeated the Kazakh three years ago in San Jose. (ANI)
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