Collins fights through in tight duel with Jabeur, sets up all-American quarter-final
The two 26-year-olds duked it out in the final fourth-round match – and it was an encounter worthy of the big Court Philippe-Chatrier stage.
Tennis – French Open – Roland Garros, Paris, France – October 6, 2020 Danielle Collins of the U.S. in action during her fourth round match against Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur
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Roland-Garros, fourth round
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COLLINS d. JABEUR 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
- Key info: The American has reached her first-ever French Open quarter-final.
- You will also learn: Collins has set up an all-American clash against Sofia Kenin in the next round.
- Why you should read this: The result of this fourth-round encounter finalises the women’s quarter-final line-up for 2020.
Danielle Collins fought through to the Roland-Garros quarter-finals, beating Ons Jabeur 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a brilliant battle on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
“She’s tricky!” admitted Collins in her on-court interview afterwards.
“She served really well, she hit some drop shots on shots that I wasn’t really expecting, and I had to try to dig it out. I lost my way there a little bit, lost some of the shots I had been hitting earlier, and I needed to stay positive.”
The 26-year-old American was fired up from the outset, hollering in celebration with each point won, and shouting with frustration with each point lost.
Her Tunisian opponent remained calm, but her head began to drop seven minutes into the second set as Collins broke serve in the second game and swiftly moved to a 6-4, 3-0 lead.
Knife-edge
Jabeur held serve to stay in touch, and then used her cross-court forehand to great effect and breaking to love – her first opportunity of the match to make in-roads on the Collins serve.
And the 30th seed stepped up her aggression to take the second set 6-4 and force a decider.
Four successive breaks of serve at the start of the final set left the match on a knife-edge – and Collins fended off triple break point to move in front.
Two more breaks of serve followed, though, as Jabeur refused to let go of this enthralling tie – but she double-faulted and hit into the net in the tenth game to gift Collins match point and the match.
Collins will now face compatriot Sofia Kenin in the quarter-final – an opponent to whom she has never lost a set.
