Photo credit: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty
In their last contentious clash at the Paris Olympics, Danielle Collins delivered a lecture of disdain to Iga Swiatek.
In today’s Rome rematch, a calm Collins schooled Swiatek in the art of first-strike tennis.
Destroying Swiatek’s second serve, Collins broke six times dismissing the defending champion 6-1, 7-5 to roll into the Rome round of 16.
A ruthless Collins won 21 of 27 points played on the Swiatek second serve. Collins not only thrashed the reigning Roland Garros champion, she knocked Swiatek out of the Top 2 to No. 4 in the WTA Live Rankings.
"I feel like I went out and, after losing to Iga so many times, you obviously learn from those experiences, matchups," Collins told the media in Rome. "In my mind I was kind of like, well, even though the last couple times we've played she's beaten me, I've played some of my best tennis in those matches.
"So that gave me confidence. Then just learning from those situations, executing my game style and being a little bit more accurate than the times before."
The free-fall and serving woes continue for Swiatek, who was broken eight times in a 6-2, 7-5 upset loss to 140th-ranked Alexandra Eala in the Miami Open quarterfinals before Coco Gauff stormed through 11 consecutive games destroying defending Madrid champion Swiatek 6-1, 6-1 in the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals earlier this month.
Commanding the center of the court, Collins scored her first Top 10 win in 13 months—coming after she beat then No. 7 Maria Sakkari en route to the 2024 Charleston title—and her third career triumph over a Top 2-ranked opponent.
Crunching clean combinations, Collins cracked 32 winners against 12 unforced errors repeatedly shredding Swiatek in the backhand exchanges.
World No. 35 Collins will face either 16th-seeded Elina Svitolina or compatriot Hailey Baptiste for a quarterfinal spot.
The 2022 AO finalist is the second American woman into the Rome round of 16 on a day in which two of the Top 5-seeded women fell.
Earlier, Peyton Stearns won the final four points of the tiebreaker out-dueling AO champion and fifth-seeded Madison Keys 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) in a two hour, 33-minute thriller.
It is the second career Top 10 win for Stearns, who will play either four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka or Marie Bouzkova next.
An impressive aspect of this upset, the often fiery Collins did not even delve into Danimal mode.
In fact, Collins was relatively quiet until the latter stages of the match when she unleashed some first pumps and a few “Come on Danielle!” to punctuate powerful winners.
That’s somewhat surprising because of the bad blood between the pair that bubbled up at the Paris Olympics last summer. After retiring in the third set of their Olympic quarterfinal due to an abdominal issue, Collins appeared to admonish the Polish superstar while holding her hand in the post-match handshake.
It was later revealed that Collins believed Swiatek had resorted to gamesmanship and was insincere with regard to her past injury struggles. Collins clutched the five-time Grand Slam champion's hand while she spoke her piece.
"She didn't have to be insincere about my injury," Collins said in Paris. "There's a lot that happens on camera. And there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma … (who) are one way on camera and another way in the locker room.
"I don't need the fakeness."
Today, Collins carried an ignominious 1-7 lifetime record against Swiatek onto court and proceeded to rip the reigning Roland Garros champion’s second serve apart.
It was as if Collins knew exactly what she needed to do to dismantle Swiatek and was intent on investing all of her energy into mastering the mission.
Setting the tone with her rocket returns, Collins strong-armed a skittish Swiatek into double-faulting away two breaks in a row charing out to a 3-0 lead after 16 minutes.
Stalking another Swiatek second serve, Collins cracked a backhand return winner down the line, capping a love break for an eye-popping 5-0 lead after just 24 minutes of play.
Collins was so dominant there was almost a hush over the sparse crowd as if they were in disbelief at the sight of the carnage.
Three-time Rome champion Swiatek denied her second bagel to an American opponent in as many tournaments when she exploited a Collins double fault to break in the sixth game.
Shrugging off that mis-step, Collins stepped in and crushed a crosscourt backhand return. Collins scored her second straight love break to snatch the 34-minute opener in style.
Destroying the Swiatek second serve, Collins won 12 of 14 points played on the Pole’s second serve and broke in all three of service games. A skittish Swiatek served only 33 percent as Collins beat the former No. 1 down in backhand exchanges.
Swiatek, who hit three winners against 10 errors in the opener, won only five of 22 points played on her serve in the first set.
The defending champion took a bathroom break after dropping the first set and returned to apply pressure immediately.
Though Collins fought off four break points, she double faulted to face a fifth then scattered a backhand as Swiatek broke to start the second set with her first lead of the afternoon.
“Iga, very simple: Play to win,” Coach Wim Fissette told Swiatek. “Put your energy into the ball. Play to win.”
Collins broke right back to level the set.
Fifty-seven minutes into the match, Swiatek stamped her first hold of the day at love to even after four games.
Trying to rouse herself with fist pumps, Swiatek threatened the Collins serve in the ninth game.
Deadlocked at 4-all, Collins denied a pair of break points—whipping a diagonal forehand stinging a strong serve to save both—then held for 5-4 when Swiatek netted a backhand return.
Digging in, Swiatek saved a match point prevailing in a nine-shot rally she ended with a backhand winner. A Swiatek short smash helped her hold for 5-all.
On this day, nothing would stop a relentless Collins.
"My priority today was to go out and be consistent with the shots that I was hitting," Collins said. "Obviously with my game style, I play a pretty aggressive game style. Sometimes that can go one way or another. It can look really great and flashy, and other times you can miss some shots.
"But I think having the confidence and trusting myself in those big moments to go after it, to trust my athleticism and to really, yeah, just like not be afraid to go after my shots in those big moments I think was key."
Drilling her 30th winner of the day keyed a comfortable Collins hold for 6-5.
Under pressure today, Swiatek’s second serve was basically a bluff at times today. The defending champion went down love-40 but saved a second match point striking the baseline with a drive.
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On her third match point, Collins cracked another crosscourt backhand drawing the backhand error to end it in one hour, 44 minutes.
There was no extensive celebration from Collins, who exchanged a wordless handshake with Swiatek after a masterful one hour, 44-minute performance to gain a measure of revenge for that spicy Olympic defeat.