Collins fights past Aiava, the partisan to set Keys up in Melbourne

Danielle Collins has never been one to hide her feelings, and No. The 10 seed let it all out after finally seeing off Destanee Aiava’s challenge 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2.

With a repeated cry of “What about it!” the American kissed every corner of the Kia Arena, which had been solidly behind Aiava, the last Australian left in the draw, for the previous 2 hours and 25 minutes.

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Collins received a whiff of boos in response, which she greeted with a broad smile and a bit of teasing. In her court interview, she joked that those cheering her on had helped fund her upcoming holiday.

“I thought during the game, I’m out of here, I might as well take the big, fat paycheck,” Collins told the crowd. “CoCo (Vandeweghe, who was in her support box) and I, we love a good five-star vacation. So part of that check goes to that. So thanks, guys, thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight!”

Afterwards, Collins talked about how much motivation she drew from the crowd.

“I loved it,” she told the press. “I’ve been doing this my whole life. I love playing in a crowd that has energy no matter what side they’re on. It just motivates me even more… I think it really helped me in the end .Just helped me concentrate more and challenged me at times Just pushed me through the finish line.

“One of the biggest things about being a professional athlete is the people who don’t like you and the people who hate you, they actually pay your bills. It’s kind of a cool concept. Obviously, my professional career won’t last forever So I remind myself every day when I have things like that they pay my bills to come out here and do what they do it all goes to the Danielle Collins Foundation.

“Yeah bring it on. I love it… All I have to say is seriously, good luck trying to get under the skin of someone who really doesn’t care.”

The attitude Collins had displayed with her tennis had been much the same throughout the match. Between them, the two players saved a total of 10 break points over the course of the first three games – setting the stage for a magnificent barnburner, with neither player afraid to pulverize the ball at the slightest opportunity.

Aiava, 24, was on a nine-match winning streak and had attracted attention for both her breakthrough run and her vintage outfits (this time wearing the dress popularized by Maria Sharapova at the 2013 Australian Open). Her 25 winners and ability to find her biggest serves under break point pressure energized the crowd early, and despite losing the first set on a tiebreak, she responded by overpowering Collins in the second.

But Collins was able to regain some momentum before the fight went to a decision. Down 5-2, she took a medical time-out to receive treatment on her foot and cut Aiava’s lead to 5-4. Down 3-2 in the third set, Collins saved a break point with a service winner – and having escaped that game, the 31-year-old took control and unleashed on the return to reel off the final four games of the contest.

Keys edges Ruse in tight three sets

Collins will face compatriot and friend Madison Keys, who also had to hold off a determined opponent to advance. Seed no. 19 scraped past qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse 7-6(1), 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours 30 minutes, extending her winning streak to seven — but only just.

No.125-ranked Ruse is no stranger to an upset. She took out Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova at the same stage of the US Open and bid for the third Top 20 victory of her career. In a first meeting between the pair, Keys’ form fluctuated throughout. After leading 4-0 in the first set, the American needed a tiebreak to close it out. She then trailed with a 4-3 break in the decider before proving too strong at home.

“It wasn’t the prettiest tennis and I really had to take it out,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “And she was playing at a really high level. I had to keep adjusting what I was trying to do. I wasn’t serving as well as I wanted to or dictating as much as I wanted to, so I had to to change the game plan and just try to survive out here.”

Keys tallied 37 winners to 44 unforced errors and landed 69% of her first serves. However, the most decisive number in the third set was her second serve points: from 40% in the first set and 20% in the second set, this went up to 80% in the decider.

Both players committed to aggression from the ground, and both consequently rode the wave of big winners and wild errors throughout the match. But Keys found an extra level when she needed it. Leading 5-4 in the third set, she won the match point with some stellar play, eventually hitting a backhand pass past Ruse to reach her second match point.

Although the Romanian escaped that match, it was Keys who seized the momentum. The former US Open finalist rattled off eight of the last nine points as Ruse fell into a series of cheap faults and double faults at exactly the wrong time.

Keys leads head-to-head with Collins 2-1. Their most recent meeting was in last year’s Strasbourg final, which Keys won 6-1, 6-2, but they have split their previous two meetings on hard courts.

Paolini, Svitolina, Veronika Kudermetova advance

No.4 seed Jasmine Paolini closed out the Rod Laver Arena night session with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Renata Zarazua. The Mexican no. 1 had his moments, breaking Paolini in the first game with a brilliant full-court exchange and threatening a comeback throughout the second set, but the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist managed to keep a lid on the match to seal it out. in 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Playing her first tournament since the US Open due to undergoing foot surgery, the former no. 3 Elina Svitolina to run her business efficiently. The Ukrainian no. The 28th seed fired 29 winners, including seven aces, to dismiss Caroline Dolehide 6-1, 6-4 in 1 hour 14 minutes. Svitolina will next face Paolini for the first time.

The former no. 9 Veronika Kudermetova returned to the third round of a major for the first time since the 2022 US Open with a 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 win over No. 22nd seed Katie Boulter. Kudermetova led 5-1 in the first set but saw her lead – and the first three set points – evaporate as the Brit mounted a comeback. But Kudermetova found strong winners when she needed them in both the tiebreak and the deciding set. She will next meet no. 15th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia, who came from a break down in the second set to defeat Erika Andreeva 6-2, 6-3.

Two unseeded players reached the milestone in their debut Grand Slam third round, and will now face each other for a place in the second week. No.82-ranked Jaqueline Cristian had lost both of her previous major second rounds and lost in the first round in each of 2024’s Grand Slams. But the Romanian edged Lucia Bronzetti 7-5, 7-5 to break new ground in her ninth main draw.

Lucky loser Eva Lys, who only found out she had a place in the draw 10 minutes before her first round match, continued to make the most of her second chance. The 22-year-old German, ranked no. 128, Varvara Gracheva won 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in 1 hour and 56 minutes. coming up with a series of laser-like backhand winners in the home stretch.