Sometimes the stories write themselves. Florida-born Danielle Collins kept her nerve, stayed aggressive against a power hitter and showed steely execution in the match’s biggest pressure points to topple 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, sealing a first Masters 1000 title for the 30-year-old on home soil in Miami – ten weeks after announcing 2024 would be her final season as a pro.
Collins conquers Miami in final appearance
Collins bt. Rybakina [4] 7-5, 6-3
- Collins claims first title since Aug. 2021, becomes second unseeded woman to win the tournament outright, lowest-ranked champion and oldest first-time WTA 1000 winner since Elena Vesnina (Indian Wells 2017)
- 30-year-old clinches new career-best silverware as swansong surge continues, having announced 2024 would be her final year on tour in January after painful defeat by Iga Swiatek at Australian Open
- Collins was appreciative in an emotional post-match interview: “I had to work really hard to get here, coming out here and feeling like I’m playing in-front of thousands of my best friends… everybody pushing me to get over this hurdle today, it meant the world. I’ve never felt anything like it.”
- Consistency a comforting consolation prize: Rybakina became the first woman to reach consecutive Miami Open finals since Serena Williams (2013-15), youngest (24 years, 9 months) since Maria Sharapova (2005-06)
- Records broken: American will rise to world no. 22 in Monday’s rankings update, after avenging Rybakina defeat (Abu Dhabi, Feb. 8) for maiden Masters 1000 title – this also marks her first top-five win in such an event
The general consensus was Rybakina entered this a tad overcooked, having battled through a series of exhausting three-set wins in quick succession – one-time Major finalist Madison Keys was the only straight-sets victory she logged over the past nine days and extended baseline exchanges weren’t helping preserve her gas tank.
Their respective routes to the final
Collins: Bernarda Pera [Q], Anastasia Potapova [30], Elina Avanesyan, Sorana Cirstea [19], Caroline Garcia [23], Ekaterina Alexandrova [14] — 8 hours 5 mins in six matches
Rybakina: Clara Tauson, Taylor Townsend, Madison Keys [17], Maria Sakkari [8], Victoria Azarenka [27] — 11 hours 49 minutes across five matches
Collins could’ve been excused for being distracted, both by the fervent crowd noise and audible support from her player box – or lack thereof, as she felt at certain moments – though she stayed laser-focused and refused to dwell after narrowly missing groundstrokes or netting forehands during some of their more tense rallies.
Rybakina played well on heavy legs and was so close, yet so far, from victory.
Collins saved an eyewatering 10 of 11 break points she faced, a combination of executing better in the moment and the hard-hitting Kazakh being a bit frazzled during moments where you’d expect the world no. 4 to be more clinical.
Perhaps fatigue ultimately proved a factor you couldn’t ignore here, but that doesn’t take away from Collins’ counterpunching abilities and a relentless tendency to force the 24-year-old into working even harder to outmanoevure her for winners.
Whether a net approach shot, missed smash or unsatisfactory service return shot which gave Collins licence to capitalise with a crunching shot in the open court, that 1-of-11 number eventually proved costly against a home favourite that relished grinding out every point and showed touch in set two when things got tight.
A deft lob winner to kickstart the game, up 4-3 in the second stanza rather told the story of a player whose problem-solving skills were on full display. Her backhand was purring too, and it felt fitting she secured new ground at this level with a crosscourt winner from that wing at the fourth time of asking, winning in just over two hours.
What’s next?
As I touched upon earlier this week, that’s it for the hard court swing until August.
The grind doesn’t just stop for Collins after a career-best result, slated to face former world no. 2 Paula Badosa on Charleston clay Monday and won’t feel the full effects of aforementioned rankings boost until the next WTA 1000 event in Madrid on April 22.
Not listed to feature in either of next week’s WTA events, Rybakina will rest after a busy fortnight and forgo representing Kazakhstan at the Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers vs. Japan in Tokyo before likely starting her clay stint in Stuttgart (April 15).
Picture source: Getty Images
Mo and Sports 