Ashleigh Barty is one step closer towards her goal of winning the 2022 Australian Open. But standing in her way is the upset-hungry Danielle Collins, whose aggressive game can disrupt any opponent.
The hometown hero barged her way through the final as she defeated challenger after challenger, which further strengthened her WTA No. 1 credentials.
Meanwhile, her opponent in Danielle Collins has been equally superb in this tournament too. The 28-year-old had to go through a gauntlet and she appears to be more than ready in claiming her first-ever Grand Slam.
The pre-final SBOTOP Australian Open 2022 odds have Ashleigh Barty as the overwhelming favourite, and rightfully so, since she’s the top-ranked player in the women’s division.
But Danielle Collins has proven that she’s no chopped liver despite being ranked only at No. 27. In finals like these, rankings and statistics are often thrown out of the window, so we expect a blockbuster finale between these two tomorrow at the Rod Laver Arena.
Read on below as we bring to you the latest Australian Open 2022 updates.
Ashleigh Barty carrying a weight of a nation on her shoulders
Ashleigh Barty is in a league above everyone else as shown in her run all the way through the tournament final. The WTA No. 1 has breezed through all six of her opponents by only dropping 21 games and she hasn’t lost in a single set.
She is bidding to end Australia’s 44-year drought for a homegrown women’s singles titlist, as the last time it happened was in 1978 where the unseeded Chris O’Neil defeated Betsy Nagelsen in straight sets. The last Australian to make it this far was Wendy Turnbull, who was runner-up to Hana Mandlikova in 1980.
With the weight of a nation on Barty’s shoulders, there’s big pressure on her part to deliver and achieve history but she isn’t fazed by it at all. In fact, she relishes the pressure that comes with it.
“Saturday’s going to be a new experience for me. So I go out there and embrace it, smile, try to do the best that I can and whatever happens, happens,” said Barty in a recent interview.
“I’m really looking forward to having one last crack here to really go out there and enjoy it,” she added.
Barty now holds a 3-1 record in major semis, with each of her finals appearances coming from different Grand Slam tournaments. In the two previous times she made it to as far as the final, Barty eventually won the 2019 Roland Garros and 2021 Wimbledon.
The WTA No. 1 also picked up her 14th career title on home soil during the Adelaide International three weeks ago, so her current streak is now up to 10 consecutive victories.
Danielle Collins’ Cinderella run continues
There is indeed something in Melbourne that brings the best out of Danielle Collins.
Collins, whose only previous major semis appearance was also at the Australian Open in 2019, is on a roll with an 11-game win streak – with WTA No. 7 Iga Swiatek as her latest victim.
The 28-year-old scored 27 winners, including seven off the return and seven aces, to only 13 unforced errors. Collins was the aggressor from the get-go which eventually wore out Swiatek towards the end of the match.
This result is Collins’ seventh career Top 10 win and second on the Grand Slams after her fourth-round upset over Angelique Kerber here in the same venue in 2019. Moreover, she’s guaranteed to be in the Top 10 next week, surpassing her previous career-high of No. 23 in the WTA.
That’s not bad for someone who few people imagined her to reach this far, especially after struggling with health scares last season. Collins suffered endometriosis last year, which led her to undergo surgery last April to remove a large cyst.
She is looking to become the latest surprise Grand Slam champion when she takes on Barty in the final. Iga Swiatek, Barbora Krejcikova, and Emma Raducanu did it last season, and she hopes to become the first this year.
“There’s been so many women in the last couple of years who won slams that weren’t expected to win slams, and that gives hope to all the players,” remarked Collins.
“Whether you’re outside the Top 50 or the Top 100, or if you’re in the Top 10, everyone has a chance of making deep runs,” she added.
Barty may hold the edge in her head-to-heads against Collins at 3-1, but regardless of what happens tomorrow, Collins has put herself on the radar as a name to watch out for moving forward.
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