MIAMI – American Danielle Collins produced a fairytale ending to her first WTA 1000 final in her last year on the tour by beating Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan to capture the Miami Open.
The 30-year-old, who grew up in St Petersburg near Tampa, delighted the partisan home crowd as she produced a determined display to see off world No.4 Rybakina 7-5 6-3, before breaking down in tears.
“What a dream come true to have played at the level that I have played consistently over the last two weeks,” Collins said after her triumph.
“It’s just been amazing to have felt the energy that I felt from the fans, and literally feel like I’m playing in front of thousands of my best friends, that was just surreal. I will never forget this day because of that,” Collins added according to wtatennis.com.
Unseeded Collins, who was runner-up to Ashleigh Barty at the 2022 Australian Open, had won 12 straight sets after losing her first of the tournament, and continued to dig deep as she saw off Rybakina, who had reached a second straight Miami Open final.
During the trophy presentation, she saved an extra special thank you to the thousands of fans who cheered her on the entire way.
“I have worked so hard and it has taken a lot longer than a lot of the players on the tour,” Collins said after the win.
“It meant so much to me to get over this hurdle. It is just a really special moment.”
“To the fans, I’ve played a lot of tennis, and I’ve played a few finals, but nothing close to this,” Collins said to the crowd.
“It was just an incredible environment. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
After the Australian Open in January, Collins announced that this would be the final year of her professional tennis career, citing a desire to return to normal life away from all of the rigors of the tour.
Collins’ triumph in Miami was her first at the WTA 1000 level. It’s her third overall WTA title, having won back-to-back titles in the summer of 2021, first at the WTA 250 clay-court event in Palermo and then at the WTA 500 hard-court stop in San Jose.
Collins didn’t just win the title in Miami, she stormed to the title dropping just one set, her first set of the tournament, defeating countrywoman Bernarda Pera in the first round, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
She won her next six matches in straight sets without even going to a tie-break, including wins over five seeded players—Anastasia Potapova (No. 30), Sorana Cirstea (No. 19), Caroline Garcia (No. 23), Ekaterina Alexandrova (No. 14) and ultimately Rybakina (No. 4).
Rybakina was under pressure on her serve again early in the second set, with Collins dispatching a break point chance with a forehand crosscourt winner to move 2-0 ahead.
The 2022 Wimbledon champion, though, regrouped to immediately break back in the next game before a hold to love levelled the set up again at 2-2.
Collins eventually took what was an error-strewn seventh game from both players to lead 4-3, which again got the crowd fired up.
The home fans were soon back on their feet as Collins forced home another break chance when Rybakina sent a return long which left her serving for the title.
Collins, though, struggled to finish off Rybakina, who forced a break chance before the American failed to take three championship points, but she eventually found a backhand winner to deliver the biggest title of her career.
Collins had not defeated a Top 5 player since a win over then-No.2 Paula Badosa at San Diego in October of 2022. However, she matched Rybakina shot for shot to claim the fifth Top 5 win of her career, and in a WTA 1000 final no less.
With the win, Collins becomes the first American woman to take home the Miami Open title since Sloane Stephens in 2018.
She is the sixth American woman overall to claim the crown, joining Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, three-time champion Venus Williams, eight-time champion Serena Williams and Stephens.
Collins, the 2022 Australian Open runner-up and former World No.7, is currently ranked No.53 and now is the lowest-ranked woman to win the Miami Open.
The previous lowest-ranked women’s champion at Miami was Kim Clijsters, who was No.38 when she won the title in 2005. Collins is projected to skyrocket to No.22 in Monday’s updated rankings.
