No. 19 seed Collins has the fourth round of the US Open for the first time in her career and will now face No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka for a spot in the quarterfinals.
The 28-year-old Collins is part of a quartet of American women into the Round of 16, joining No. 8 seed Jessica Pegula, No. 12 seed Coco Gauff, and No. 29 seed Alison Riske-Amritraj. Collins has paved her way into the second week with wins over Naomi Osaka, Cristina Bucsa, and Cornet.
“Honestly, I’m having the time of my life. This is what we dream of as a kid, playing these night matches,” the American said.
Collins broke Cornet in the fifth game of the opening set and was off to the races. With relentless baseline pressure, she quickly amassed 20 winners through the first eight games.
The American played a tidy match, minimising her errors and putting in a physical effort at the baseline, but the French veteran struggled to find any space to keep Collins at bay. Her only hope was to bait Collins into errors. But on this night, the American did not miss.
The second rolled along with both women taking care of their serve. Only one break separated the two in the opening set, but neither woman was able to generate a single break point in the second set.
In the tiebreak, neither player was able to break away. Collins saw her first match point at 6-5 saved with a strong first serve from Cornet, while Cornet could only watch as Collins erased a set point with a clean backhand winner to level at 7-7.
Collins saved a second set point with her 50th winner of the night. Collins’ gutsy saves would be rewarded. On her second match point, Collins closed out the victory after 1 hour and 52 minutes on late Saturday night.
As far as stats are concerned, Collins went unbroken in the match, facing down just one break point, while firing 52 winners to 29 unforced errors. Cornet hit 17 winners and just 9 unforced errors in the match.
Collins faces a formidable foe in the next round. Sabalenka has won all three prior meetings, with two of those wins coming at the US Open, in the first round in 2018 and the third round just last year. Sabalenka has lost just one set to Collins and comes into the match off a 6-0, 6-2 win over Clara Burel.
–IANS
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