It didn’t take long for the first upset of the Australian Open to take place on the women’s side. American Danielle Collins came back from a set down to defeat #14 ranked Julia Goerges of Germany 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4.
Collins had her big breakthrough on tour at the Miami Open last year, defeating Coco Vandeweghe, Donna Vekic, Monica Puig, and Venus Williams en route to the semifinals before falling to Jelena Ostapenko. She failed to have much success for the rest of the season, but the American looks like she’s ready to capitalize off the 2018 success that catapulted her professional career.
Collins, who was a standout at the University of Virginia, is proving to be another player coming from college tennis that is successfully transitioning to the pro game. We haven’t seen it much on the women’s side, but maybe Danielle Collins success can inspire more up and coming players to go the college route, like John Isner and Kevin Anderson have been able to do.
Collins will next face fellow American Sachia Vickery, who also advanced to the second round coming back from a set down to defeat Belgian Ysaline Bonaventure. Collins and Vickery have faced each other five times in their career, with Vickery leading the H2H 3-2. All five of their previous meetings have taken place at the challenger level, so a spot in the 3rd round of the Australian Open up for grabs is a huge opportunity for both of these up and coming American’s looking to start off their 2019 seasons with the best Grand Slam result in their careers.
The winner will most likely face #19 Caroline Garcia, who isn’t the worst matchup you can get in the third round of a Grand Slam. Garcia advanced past Jessika Ponchet and will face Australian wildcard Zoe Hives in the second round.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
