Cavaliers Now

Danielle Collins Advances to Australian Open Semifinals with Straight Set Win over Alizé Cornet

The UVA alum will make her second-career appearance in the Australian Open semifinals

Matt Newton

Danielle Collins is going back to the semifinals of the Australian Open. 

The former Virginia tennis star defeated France's Alizé Cornet, the 61st-ranked women's singles player in the world, in straight sets in the quarterfinals and advanced to the Australian Open semifinals for the second time in her career. 

After rallying to win back-to-back three-set matches in come-from-behind fashion, it seemed Collins' quarterfinal match against Cornet would go a similar route, as the two players went back and forth in the first set. 

Collins got an early break in the fourth game and held serve to eventually go up 5-2, but Cornet rallied to win three straight games and tied the opening set back up at five games apiece. Collins held serve and then broke Cornet on a 10-point game that went to deuce twice before Collins won to clinch the first set. 

Having lost the first set of her previous two matches, it was a comforting sight for Collins to take the initial set and avoid that pressure. 

Collins maintained her momentum in the second set, winning the first five games, which included two breaks on Cornet's serve. Collins nearly accomplished the 6-0 sweep, as she earned a match point on Cornet's serve in the sixth game, but was unable to close it out. In another 10-point game, Cornet eventually held serve to win her first and only game of the second set. 

Collins needed only one more match point to get the job done, as she jumped out to a 40-15 lead in the next game, before clinching the 7-5, 6-1 victory over Cornet to propel Collins into the semifinals. 

This matches the most successful run at a Grand Slam event in the career of Danielle Collins, who also went to the semifinals of the Australian Open in 2019. 

Collins will face Poland's Iga Swiatek, the No. 7 seed in the Australian Open and the No. 9 ranked women's singles player on tour, in the semifinals on Thursday. Swiatek defeated Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in the quarterfinals, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.

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