Three years after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal, Danielle Collins has returned to the final four at the Australian Open.
The American overpowered Alize Cornet in a 7-5 6-1 victory, using her impressive and powerful groundstrokes to dictate play and dominate her French opponent. Collins won an astounding 28 of 31 points behind her first serve, hitting five aces while minimizing the double faults.
The San Jose champion raced to a 5-3 lead to start the match, but was unable to serve out the set as Cornet fought back to level the score at 5-5. Nonetheless, Collins was able to outlast her opponent and prevent a tiebreak, closing out the first set after an hour.
Perhaps exhausted after an intense first set, Cornet offered little resistance in the second as Collins raced to a 5-0 lead. The French veteran was able to salvage a game, before the big-hitting American served out the match after an hour and 28 minutes.
This will be Collins' second appearance at the semifinals of the Australian Open, and the World No.30 will face the winner between Iga Swiatek and Kaia Kanepi.
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