Miami Open champion Collins wins twice to reach last eight

CHARLESTON: Miami Open champion Danielle Collins (pic) continued an amazing run by winning two matches on Thursday, beating Ons Jabeur and Sloane Stephens to reach the quarter-finals of the rain-delayed Charleston Open.

Collins, who has said this will be her final season on tour, has won 10 straight matches and 20 of her past 21 sets.

Collins and defending champion Jabeur played the first match of the day at the clay-court event after rain on Wednesday led to several matches being postponed.

None of it appeared to bother the 30-year-old Collins, who spent just over three hours on the court in the two matches combined.

She topped Jabeur 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in 2 hours, 3 minutes, then returned about five hours later to take out former US Open champion Stephens 6-2,

6-2 in 1 hour, 11 minutes. Stephens won the title at Charleston in 2016.

“I can’t remember the last time I played five sets in a day,” Collins said. “It was probably like, the juniors and 12-and-unders.

“But the inclement weather, we had to adjust,” she continued, “and I think on these days, you have to be really flexible and versatile out there.”

Jabeur, ranked sixth, lost her opening match for a fourth consecutive tournament. Jabeur is 2-6 this season.

The 22nd-ranked Collins will next face Elise Mertens, who also won twice on Thursday.

Mertens, ranked 30th, needed 2 hours, 30 minutes to beat Vavara Gracheva 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the morning. She returned in the evening to defeat 15th-ranked Elina Svitolina 6-4, 6-1 in just over an hour.

Top-seeded Jessica Pegula also reached the final eight, beating Magda Linette 6-2, 6-2. The fifthranked Pegula will face Victoria Azarenka in the quarters.

“I think I served really smart and I was playing well in these conditions, which were really tricky,” Pegula said. “And luckily, I was able to play the controlled, aggressive mentality in the wind and I was kind of able to pressure her.”

Azarenka rallied to defeat Taylor Townsend 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4.

Veronika Kudermetova, who won this title in 2021, advanced with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia, and will take on seventh-ranked Maria Sakkari, who defeated Astra Sharma 6-4, 6-1.

Collins lost her first set at Miami last month before winning the next 16 on the way to the championship.

Jaqueline Cristian, playing Charleston for the first time, defeated her second top-20 player this week. She followed a win over 18th-ranked Madison Keys by beating No. 20 Emma Navarro 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.

Cristian led 5-4 in the second set before Navarro fought off two match points and took the set. The Romanian quickly shook it off.

“You’re ready for it. You live in the present,” Cristian said.