Collins overpowers Jabeur to reach second Miami quarterfinal

No.9 seed Danielle Collins booked her place in her second Miami Open quarterfinal with a 6-2, 6-4 defeat of No.8 seed Ons Jabeur in only 66 minutes.

The American had been forced to retire from Dubai and withdraw from Indian Wells due to a viral illness that caused her nagging neck pain, but has found her groove again at a tournament where she has excelled in the past. On her Miami debut in 2018, Collins reached her first WTA semifinal as a qualifier ranked No.93 playing her fifth tour-level main draw.

Collins had lost to Jabeur on home soil in their last meeting, in the Indian Wells third round last year. But she had previously beaten the Tunisian at Roland Garros 2020, and broke her four times here to take a 2-1 head-to-head advantage.

For Jabeur, the result is a second straight fourth-round loss in Miami, having fallen to Sara Sorribes Tormo at this stage last year.

Keys to the match: Collins delivered a formidable serving performance, conceding only 13 points behind her delivery in total. The Australian Open finalist was only broken once, at the start of the second set – a game in which Jabeur had to come up with three consecutive low-percentage winners to capture.

In any case, Collins’ return game was also on song. Three clean return winners gained her the break back immediately, and the consistent depth and pace she found on that shot piled the pressure on Jabeur.

Jabeur had few answers. She managed to keep the second set close due to a strong first serve, behind which she won 77% of the points – but landing only 54% of those deliveries prevented her from gaining any momentum with it. Nor did Jabeur’s usual box of magic tricks come to her rescue: she found only one winning dropshot, and a mid-rally through-the-legs hot shot couldn’t stop Collins taking that point anyway.

Serving to stay in the match, Collins amped up her returns, drawing three netted backhands from Jabeur as a result.

In Collins’ words: “I feel like we come out here and either one of us could win on any given day,” she said afterwards. “She beat me in practice a few days ago, and beat me in Indian Wells. We’ve had some great times on court, so I was just trying to be competitive against my friend.

“I’ve had some of my best results after coming back from injuries or having a little bit of time off at the end of the year. I try to tell myself that when I feel a little off or rusty.”