Danielle Collins had not initially planned on playing at Australian Open 2025.
Yet on Monday, she made a triumphant return to Melbourne Park and in front of a vociferous crowd at Margaret Court Arena offered a timely reminder of her quality.
The AO holds a special place in Collins’ heart. It was here, in 2022, that she reached her maiden Grand Slam final. She lost to the imperious Ash Barty, who went on to retire later that year.
And it was in Melbourne last year that Collins said the 2024 season would be her last on the WTA Tour. She wished to focus on starting a family.
Yet in October, she announced she had changed her mind, and instead it will be this season that she calls it a day.
That means her appearance at AO 2025 is, barring another turnaround, set to be her curtain call at the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific. She got her swansong off to a flyer.
Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur fought hard, but Collins – seeded 10th – prevailed 7-6(4) 6-3 to ensure her progress to the second round.
The victory extended Collins’ perfect record in AO first-round encounters; she is now 7-0 in her opening matches at the tournament. Along with Elise Mertens and Iga Swiatek, Collins has reached the AO second round in each of the past seven editions of the Grand Slam, dating back to 2019.
The world No.11 has now won 17 main draw matches at the AO – only at the Miami Open (18) has she won more times.
Collins’ overall AO record now stands at 17 wins and six defeats. That 73.9% win ratio is her best out of any of the Grand Slams. As well as making the final three years ago, she reached the semifinals in 2019. At no other major has Collins made it past the quarterfinals (Roland Garros 2020).
Her record at Roland Garros is 9-7 (56.2%). At Wimbledon, it is 7-6 (53.8%). She is 7-9 at the US Open (43.7%), giving her an overall Grand Slam win-loss record of 40-28.
Indeed, Monday’s triumph made her the fourth American player to secure 40+ major match wins since the start of the 2019 season, after Coco Gauff, Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula.
Collins’ best year at the Grand Slams was the year she reached the AO final – she won 10 matches across the majors in 2022, though six of those triumphs of course came in that run to the showpiece at Melbourne Park.
If Collins had not made the call to extend her playing career, then she would have bowed out on a high note – she won 38 Tour-level matches in 2024, claiming two of her four career titles (Miami Open and Charleston Open), and reached the semifinals in Rome and the final in Strasbourg, losing to Aryna Sabalenka and Keys respectively.
That is her highest tally of victories in a single calendar year across her career, and saw her rank 10th for wins of the players on the WTA Tour last year. The only American player with more match wins was Gauff (54).
Gauff (250) was also the only one of Collins’ compatriots to serve more aces than her haul of 206.
Against Snigur, Collins struck seven aces and boasted a 60% win record on her second serve (21/35) – better than her first-serve win percentage (58% - 22/38). She took 37 winners to Snigur’s 24.
Having lost her most recent Grand Slam first-round tie (vs Caroline Dolehide at the US Open), Collins ensured she did not lose back-to-back openers at the majors, something she has now not done since 2018, when she lost to Mertens at Wimbledon and then Sabalenka at Flushing Meadows.
Collins has had plenty to deal with off the court, and on the eve of AO 2025, said she was coming off a tough period in which she had “cried every day”. But the smile was firmly back as she showed there is certainly a chance she could crown her AO legacy with a maiden major title.