Danielle Collins Faces No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in US Open Third Round

Collins looks to pull the upset on the second-seeded Sabalenka on Friday night

Photo courtesy of Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

Former Virginia Cavalier tennis player and two-time NCAA champion Danielle Collins advanced to the third round of the US Open for the first time in her professional career. Collins will face the No. 2-ranked women’s singles player in the world, Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, on Friday night at 9:30pm.

At just 23 years old, Sabalenka has had an astonishing rise to prominence in the tennis world and was ranked as high as No. 1 in the world in February of 2021. Sabalenka has won ten career WTA singles titles and six doubles titles. She made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon this year and won the doubles title at the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open.

Sabalenka defeated Serbia’s Nina Stojanovic in the first round, 6-4, 6-7, 6-0 and defeated Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 6-3, 6-1 in the second round.

Danielle Collins has had an impressive year as well, winning the first two WTA titles of her career in 2021 at the Palermo International and the Silicon Valley Classic, which propelled her into the top 30 of the world tennis rankings in August.

Collins defeated Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-4 in the first round on Monday and defeated Slovenia’s Kaja Juvan 6-4, 6-2 in the second round on Wednesday. Collins is one of four American women who advanced to the round of 32 of the US Open.

This will be the third meeting between Sabalenka and Collins, with Sabalenka prevailing in both matches, including a three-set victory over Collins in the 2018 US Open.

Collins will be looking to pull an upset over a No. 2 seed for the second time in her career, as she defeated No. 2-seeded Angelique Kerber in the biggest upset of the 2019 Australian Open, en route to a semifinal appearance and her best career finish at a Grand Slam.

The match will begin at approximately 9:30pm on Friday and will be broadcast on ESPN2.