Danielle Collins steams Julia Goerges in opener of Australian Open
It was one of those quirky net cord strokes that did it for Danielle Collins, making her win 2-6, 7-6, 6-4. She'd come into Melbourne with no expectations being that it's her maiden visit and play at the Australian Open. Match points are not all the same and for Collins she'd only meant to return the ball cross court to her opponent Julia Goerges, but it tipped the net, zooming and fell into the court to everyone's surprise. Collins couldn't believe she'd just won her opening round at Melbourne on a net cord and covered her face in disbelief to finally walk over and shake Goerges' hand.
Last year in Miami she'd shown her proof what could happen when she remained focused and aggressive. There were wins over CoCo Vandeweghe, Donna Vekic and her idol Venus Williams to name a few. She's a gutsy player left over from her college days at the University of Virginia and can be daring and determined on court.
But being at Melbourne and all the prestige might have helped to psyched her out and caused a lost of the first set 2-6. It was over as the on-court commentator said "In the blink of an eye". She knew there should be no 'dilly-dallying' otherwise she'd be packing her bags for the next tournament. "I had a clear set as to what I was gonna do and I knew that overtime if I could just keep it physical I could get back into the match". She had a few top seeds during many tournaments and admitted "I was just going to have to earn it the hard way". Game face on and focus in check she'd forgotten that Julia Goerges is a veteran with many titles in her resume and she blasted her and conned her into strategies to earn the points necessary to win.
The second set went into a tiebreak but Collins knew she'd have to keep her pressure on Goerges to win the set and she did win at 7-6. By now Goerges was trying to get out of her stupor but the more Collins poured blasting shots the more she sunk into her lackluster performance. The third was the decider and Collins had come back from far to blow this match, her first time in Australia. She and Goerges had tough rallies but the ex-college tennis lady most times came up with the wins playing routine, practical tennis. It just blew her mind to have come so close in the last set and the ball was in her favor along with the fans in the stadium. "I just had to go out and have no fear...", Collins said smilingly. "It really means a lot the awesome fans that came out here to support me today. It kind of makes me feel at home even though I'm half way across the world...thank you to everyone", she happily said and is certainly ready for the next round to show what she's learned in college and so far on the pro circuit.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2VSum9P
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