Collins beats Rybakina to cap off Miami run with biggest title of her career
Danielle Collins completed her trek to the Miami title with a straight-set victory over Elena Rybakina on Saturday. Collins was unseeded for what proved to be the best tournament of her career.
Danielle Collins in Miami in 2024 (Zuma/Panoramic)
The 2024 Miami Open was already one of the best tournaments of Danielle Collins‘ career heading into Saturday afternoon. From being unseeded at a 1000-point event, she had made it all the way to the final.
But the Florida native wanted to cap off her improbable run in style in front of an enthused American crowd, and that is exactly what she did. Collins captured the biggest title of her career by upsetting Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3.
Thus concluded an absolutely dominant fortnight for the former college star at the University of Virginia. After dropping her first set of the tournament to Bernarda Pera, Collins won 14 sets in a row. She did not even get extended to a tiebreaker a single time during her Miami run.
It was just the third-ever title for Collins and her first since August of 2021 (a WTA 500 in San Jose).
COLLINS CLOSES OUT DRAMATIC FINAL GAME
Rybakina had missed Indian Wells due to illness and was less than 100 percent when the Miami Open began. The world No 4 did extremely well to battle through a quartet of three-set matches. Only one of her wins en route to the final was a straight-setter. That left her short on energy for the championship match.
Still, despite the straight-set scoreline Rybakina was competitive from start to finish. The Kazakh recovered an early break in the second before getting broken at 3-4.
That set the stage for a dramatic final game with Collins serving at 5-3. The 30-year-old missed her first three championship points while also saving two break points. She finally got across the finish line on her fourth chance, striking a clean cross-court backhand winner to clinch victory.
“My blood pressure was a little high,” Collins joked. “I was like, ‘gotta keep that blood pressure in check.’… I just had to try to stay with it. It’s hard; you’ve got the crowd supporting you and wanting you to close it out. Elena was not giving up; I just had to hang in there.”
COLLINS CLIMBS TO NO 22 IN THE RANKINGS
When the new WTA rankings come out, Collins will be up to No 22 in the world — a surge of 31 spots. Previously 53rd, she is the lowest-ranked Miami champion of all time and the first unseeded winner of the event since Kim Clijsters in 2025. Moreover, Collins is also the second oldest among first-time Miami winners after Petra Kvitova triumphed last spring at 33 years old.
Kvitova beat none other than Rybakina in the 2023 final. Rybakina won’t gain any ranking points since she also placed runner-up last year, so she will remain at No 4 in the world.
