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Danielle Collins admitted she was in a difficult spot but she was glad she managed to come back and beat Clara Tauson. Collins had to work hard on Saturday as she recovered from a set down to beat Tauson 4-6 6-4 7-5 to progress into the Australian Open round-of-16.
Tauson was 6-4 4-2 up before Collins created a big comeback. "I certainly gave myself a run for my money today, and especially with how Clara was playing," said Collins, per the WTA website. "It's never ideal to be down a set and 4-2, but it was kind of like I either needed to make the adjustments or I was going to lose the match.
So I had to make that adjustment pretty quickly and really commit to it."
Collins plays Elise Mertens next
Collins will be fighting Mertens for a place in the Australian Open quarterfinal. "[Mertens has] had some really great results in Australia," said Collins.
"[She] has always been a really solid player, a high-ranked player on tour. She's very consistent across the board and is always fighting until the end. I'm sure we're going to really battle out there and hopefully have fun at the same time." After beating Tauson, Collins explained you can get through a first couple of matches without playing your best tennis but in order to win the tournament you have to deliver your best.
"I think last year winning my first two events, it taught me how to win matches when I wasn't playing as well, not playing perfect tennis because I think it's easy to go into a tournament and make a quarterfinal or a semifinal," Collins explained.
"Not easy, but you know what I mean; you can win a couple of matches, but to win a tournament you really have to kind of embrace all of the different circumstances."