BARTY LACING UP FOR FINAL

MADISON Keys has some advice for her American counterpart Danielle Collins – get ready to be looking at your shoelaces a lot.

According to Ash Barty’s semi-final victim, she is in complete control of her game which spells big trouble for the debutant grand slam finalist.

“You have a game plan in your head but she’s just executing everything so well,” Keys said.

“She is serving incredibly well so you don’t get any free points on that and her slice is coming in so much lower and deeper than it was in the past so it’s hard to do anything on that. It feels like you can’t really get in a rhythm off the forehand side and then on her backhand side, I mean, everything is coming in at your shoelaces on the baseline. So it’s not like you can really do anything with that. I think she’s playing some really, really good tennis and she just seems so locked in and focused. I mean, I have played her a handful of times and this is easily the best I think she’s ever been playing.”

Collins, who was equally impressive in her semi-final victory over No.7 seed Iga Swiatek, won the last meeting with Barty in Adelaide last year. The Australian leads the career head-to-head 3-1.

Collins, the 27th seed, will be the fourth American Barty has faced at the Open.