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Danielle Collins extended her solid form Down Under to yet another round. The American ousted the top-seed Ashleigh Barty 6-3, 6-4 in their second-round match at the Adelaide International on Wednesday. The American’s win over Barty – who was the defending champion this week – was her first against the Australian in their fourth career meeting.
In 2020, Barty had prevailed over Collins in the semi-final of this event. Speaking after the match, Collins credited her improved fitness for her consistent results in Australia. She said, “My physical fitness is one of the things that has improved a lot, because we had such a long period of being able to train consistently for weeks and weeks and months and months.
I think pretty much from February to July I didn't play a tournament, and then I had a nearly three-month pre-season. So, I think my overall physical fitness and strength has gotten a lot better, and that gives me more confidence when I go into long points and I'm being a little bit more patient within the rallies”.
In the quarter-finals, Collins will play fifth seed Iga Swiatek. The Pole brought up a straightforward 6-1, 6-3 win over Maddison Inglis in their round-of-16 match. The other quarter-final in the top half of Adelaide International will be between Anastasija Sevastova and Jil Teichmann.
The Latvian defeated American lucky loser Christina McHale 6-4, 6-1 in the second round. In her second-round match, Teichmann came from a set down to beat China’s eighth seed Qiang Wang 3-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Adelaide International: Belinda Bencic's the highest seed standing
In the second half, Coco Gauff took down sixth seed Petra Martic in their round-of-16 meeting.
Gauff won 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. After the match, Gauff spoke about handling her expectations. “I think I've just been taking it one match at a time, to be honest. I go into every tournament thinking that I can win, and obviously that's impossible to have a perfect record, but I go into every tournament believing that I can win.
So, I try not to think far ahead in the match, at least I just try to focus on my next match, just because you have to get through that before you can get to the finals, and just take it one match at a time”. Gauff will play Shelby Rogers for a place in the semi-final.
In the bottom half of the Adelaide International draw, Aussie wildcard set up a quarter-final clash against second seed Belinda Bencic. Sanders upset seventh seed Yulia Putintseva 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in the second round while Bencic made easy work of Misaki Doi 6-1, 6-3.