Collins shakes off pain, rallies to beat Volynets
Danielle Collins knew when she woke up Thursday morning that it might not be a great day on the tennis court.
As if Katie Volynets wouldn’t be enough of a challenge, Collins woke up feeling the effects of her chronic arthritis, which sometimes flares when the temperature drops as it did from 80 Tuesday into the 40s and 50s Thursday.
Despite playing from behind for much of the match, Collins, the No. 3 seed at this week’s ATX Open, found a way to survive, battling back to beat Volynets 4-6, 7-6, 6-0 and advance to Friday’s quarterfinals. But her run ended there as she retired after losing the first set to No. 6-seeded Xiyu Wang on Friday afternoon, leaving no Americans in the singles field.
“There were some physical boundaries that I needed to push through, and it was challenging,” Collins said of Thursday’s match. “I’ve had arthritis for a bunch of years now. There are days that go well where everything feels great, and then there are days like today where I have to work around stuff.
“I knew today when I woke up that it wasn’t going to be great. It wasn’t ideal, but the main thing is that I figured out a way to win. I trust myself and my abilities in the big moments. I’ve lost close matches before, but I just kept thinking, ‘Let’s find a way to win this.’”
Volynets, who frequently frustrates opponents by returning shot after shot, kept Collins at bay for much of the match.
“Katie is a hell of a player, and she was doing everything right,” Collins said. “Tactically, I think she played the match very well, and she fought very hard.”
Volynets broke Collins’ serve three times to win the first set and broke Collins again at 4-4 in the second, giving her the chance to serve for the match leading 5-4. Collins responded immediately with a pair of backhand winners
ATX Open: Up next
Saturday’s schedule at Westwood Country Club will begin with the first doubles semifinal at 12:30 p.m. followed by the first singles semifinal; the second singles semifinal will begin at 6 p.m., followed by the second doubles matchup. Sunday’s singles final will start at 2 p.m., followed by the doubles final. to break back and stay in the set. The pair remained tied into the tiebreaker, when Collins stepped on the gas and took over. She won the last four points of the tiebreaker to draw even and then won the last six games to advance.
Said Collins: “I could tell she got a little bit nervous, and I think I finally just said, ‘Well, if you’re going to be out there, go get the win and figure it out,’ and I really locked into a few of the things that I needed to do and stayed on myself in the moment. I got pretty disciplined in what I needed to do.”
What did she need to do? Manage both her game and the pain she dealt with throughout the match.
“It was very clear that I was not hitting my shots the way that I normally do,” Collins said. “I was not moving the way that I normally do. I made a pretty big tactical adjustment in not taking as big a backswing and trying to keep it shorter and more compact. I think that helped me because my timing was pretty off today when I was taking big swings. Sometimes the bigger the swing, the more you miss.”
For Volynets, the loss ends what she hoped would be another successful Austin run. In fact, falling behind 5-0 in the final set is nothing new for her here. In last year’s second round, she found herself trailing third-seeded Anastasia Potapova 5-0 in the final set but rallied to win the last seven games to score the upset.
“I thought about last year,” she admitted. “I always think I have a chance to make something happen.”