MATCH REPORT | Six years from the first Danielle COLLINS reaches second Miami Open semi-final, sweeps aside Caroline GARCIA

Being a Florida native, Danielle Collins is at home on the courts of Miami and six years on from her first ever WTA semi-final as a qualifier at the Miami Open, her final year has seen her reach the same feat. The 31-year-old is through after easing past Caroline Garcia 6-3, 6-2 on Wednesday evening.

Since losing the first set of the tournament to Bernarda Pera, Collins has barely skipped a beat with the home hope winning her next 10 and losing just 19 games in all during the tournament so far. During the 80-minute win over Garcia, it is a third win against a seeded player in the last seven days and five matches in all.

Garcia faltered after taking down Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff back-to-back and Collins improves to 4-0 all-time against the Frenchwoman in a match which saw sheer dominance. She broke serve three times and never faced a break point herself. The dominance on her serve was shown in particular by losing just 11 points in nine service games during the match.

In what is another omen, Collins' only other WTA 1`000 semi-final was at the Miami Open. She lost to Jelena Ostapenko in straight sets at that point. She will face the winner of another Quarter-Final on Wednesday night as Jessica Pegula faces Ekaterina Alexandrova meaning a home semi-final could be on the cards. It could be a battle of home-court advantage in that instance.

But Alexandrova as ever will likely be a spoiler with the Russian dumping out Iga Swiatek last round and blowing the tournament firmly wide open. The other side of the draw sees Elena Rybakina face Victoria Azarenka tomorrow. Collins would also reach a first tour level singles final since losing at the Australian Open two years ago and would be a true fairytale story to end a career which many feel is cut short too early, albeit by choice. Certainly Collins is showing some of her best on her way out of the sport.