
Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins ended the comeback of Monica Puig in the first round of the Madrid Open, prevailing in straight sets to advance on Friday.
Collins recorded a 7-5 6-0 victory over the 2016 Olympic gold medalist, who hasn't played a competitive match since 2020 due to injury. Puig had only played four matches since an elbow surgery in 2019, and was sidelined for more than a year and a half after that as she underwent two more surgeries, on her shoulder and biceps tendon.
Nonetheless, the former World No.27 was competitive with Collins in the opening set, before eventually falling to the American.
"You never know what to expect when someone's been out for a while, and they've been working on some things," said Collins. "You don't know what type of game style that they're going to play, so it was a little bit tricky trying to anticipate what she was going to do.
"I think she played at a super-high level, especially in the first set, and gave me a lot of challenges, so I really needed to just find my rhythm on the court."
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The sixth seed has also been dealing with injuries since her incredible run at Melbourne Park, during which she had only played six matches due to a lingering neck issue.
"When you go a little period where you aren't playing some matches, you almost feel a little bit rusty," she said. "I just needed to be patient and try to get myself back into it."
Collins will face 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu in the second round.
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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