Collins shakes off injury concern and fights into second round at Australian Open

American Danielle Collins, the No 13 seed, moved into the second round of the Australian Open by edging out Russian Anna Kalinskaya 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Monday night.

Collins, ranked No 11 and the runner-up in Melbourne last year, will play the winner of the match between Ukrainian qualifier Lesia Tsurenko and Czech Karolina Muchova next. If she progresses to the second week she could face top-seeded Iga Swiatek in the round of 16.

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“I played a couple of these matches recently and didn’t pull out the win in those,” Collins said after the win. “Anytime you’re on the court playing three hour matches, you especially want to win – putting in that much effort. I just needed to push through the hurdle a little bit. Definitely had a scare there in the first set with an injury so, not what you’re wanting to kind of be dealing with in the first round of a tournament, I was able to work through it and the physios were able to really help me.” 

“I was kind of just counting my lucky stars because it really wasn’t a good start for me and the finish it was tough.”

Collins was able to continue the fight and eventually earned her victory after three hours and three minutes. She hopes her knee will be fine as she continues her quest for another deep run in Melbourne.

“The adrenaline gets going too and so I think you kind of ignore it a lot but look, I’ve had a meniscus tear and I’ve had a cartilage tear in this knee, so it’s something when I start feeling it I get a little bit worried,” she said. “I just kind of had to play through it a bit. But I do think that physios helped a lot and made a really big difference. So I’m so grateful for them.”

Melbourne (Grand Slam), other first-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 24.297.942, most recent results first):

• Tamara Zidansek vs. Ons Jabeur
• Viktoriya Tomova vs. Belinda Bencic
• Alison Riske-Amritraj vs. Marketa Vondrousova
• Sloane Stephens vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Nuria Parrizas Diaz
• Irina-Camelia Begu vs. Elizabeth Mandlik
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Varvara Gracheva
• Claire Liu vs. Madison Brengle
• Mayar Sherif vs. Magda Linette
• Maryna Zanevska vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Shuai Zhang vs. Patricia Maria Tig
• Lucrezia Stefanini vs. Tatjana Maria
• Jasmine Paolini vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Lucia Bronzetti vs. Laura Siegemund
• Petra Martic vs. Viktorija Golubic
• Sorana Cirstea vs. Yulia Putintseva
• Donna Vekic vs. Oksana Selekhmeteva
• Lauren Davis vs. Danka Kovinic
• Anett Kontaveit vs. Julia Grabher
• Linda Fruhvirtova vs. Jaimee Fourlis
• Katherine Sebov vs. Caroline Garcia
• Katie Volynets vs. Evgeniya Rodina
• Xiyu Wang vs. Karolina Pliskova
• Kaia Kanepi vs. Kimberly Birrell
• Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Camila Giorgi
• Martina Trevisan vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
• Garbine Muguruza vs. Elise Mertens
• Arianne Hartono vs. Shelby Rogers
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Tereza Martincova
• Leylah Fernandez vs. Alize Cornet
• Ysaline Bonaventure vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova
• Diane Parry vs. Taylor Townsend
• Madison Keys vs. Anna Blinkova
• Iga Swiatek vs. Jule Niemeier
• Leolia Jeanjean vs. Nadia Podoroska
• Xinyu Wang vs. Storm Hunter
• Jil Teichmann vs. Harriet Dart
• Kaja Juvan vs. Selena Janicijevic
• Elena Rybakina vs. Elisabetta Cocciaretto
• Laura Pigossi vs. Catherine McNally
• Panna Udvardy vs. Camila Osorio
• Brenda Fruhvirtova vs. Aliaksandra Sasnovich
• Lin Zhu vs. Rebecca Marino
• Sofia Kenin vs. Victoria Azarenka
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Sara Bejlek
• Qinwen Zheng vs. Dalma Galfi
• Dayana Yastremska vs. Jelena Ostapenko
• Anna Bondar vs. Ana Bogdan
• Kamilla Rakhimova vs. Kateryna Baindl
• Coco Vandeweghe vs. Anhelina Kalinina
• Lesia Tsurenko vs. Karolina Muchova: monday
• Alison Van Uytvanck vs. Petra Kvitova: monday
• Bernarda Pera vs. Moyuka Uchijima: monday
• Talia Gibson vs. Clara Burel: monday
• Yue Yuan vs. Maria Sakkari: monday
• Diana Shnaider (Q) beat Kristina Kucova: 7-6 (6), 7-5
• Marta Kostyuk beat Amanda Anisimova (28): 6-3, 6-4
• Olivia Gadecki (WC) beat Polina Kudermetova (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Jaqueline Cristian: 6-0, 6-1
• Coco Gauff (7) beat Katerina Siniakova: 6-1, 6-4
• Emma Raducanu beat Tamara Korpatsch: 6-3, 6-2
• Bianca Andreescu beat Marie Bouzkova (25): 6-2, 6-4
• Cristina Bucsa (Q) beat Eva Lys (Q): 2-6, 6-0, 6-2

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