Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) defeated the Danielle Collins (USA) to qualify for the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 Madrid Open. The Belarusian tennis player made a fantastic comeback to win the match by 2-1 (4:6, 6:4, 6:3) in 2:25 hours of play.
Danielle Collins started strongly the match, breaking her opponent already in the second game of the first set and took a lead by 2:0. Aryna Sabalenka succeeded in returning the break for 3:2, but the American tennis player broke again for 4:2, keeping her advance in the set. Danielle Collins won her next serve game for 5:2 and received two set points at the serve of her opponent, but failed to score them. On her own serve, however, Aryna Sabalenka did not retreated ad returned the break. Danielle Collins received another setpoint at the serve of her opponent in the 10th game and did not lost it, closing the set at 6:4.
The second set started equally with both players winning their serve games. Danielle Collins was the first to receive a breakpoint in the 4th game, but Aryna Sabalenka saved it. The American tennis payer earned two more breakpoints in 8th game, but her opponent saved them again. And this was the cornerstone in the set, as Aryna Sabalenka succeeded to break the serve of Danielle Collins in the 9th game of the set after receiving two breakpoints at 15-40. Thus, the Belarusian player closed the set at 6:4 and equalized the score.
The third set was under the total dominance of Aryna Sabalenka, who made two breaks at the start of the set to take a lead by 3:0. Danielle Collins returned one break for 3:1, but the Belarusian player was stable enough on her service and even break again in the 9th game to close the set at 6:3.
In the next round, Aryna Sabalenka will face the Russian teenage talent Mirra Andreeva, who eliminated the 12th-seeded Jasmine Paolini (Italy) by 2-0 (7:6, 6:4).
