MELBOURNE, Australia: Danielle Collins, who had not won a match at a Grand Slam tournament before this year, pummeled second-seeded Angelique Kerber in the fourth round on Sunday, sealing the most stunning result of the Australian Open with a 6-0, 6-2 victory that took just 55 minutes to complete.
Collins commanded the match from the beginning, dictating play by aggressively attacking, particularly with her two-handed backhand. She hit 29 winners in the match, compared to just six for Kerber.
Kerber, a three-time Grand Slam champion from Germany, had few solutions for Collins and was unable to use her counterpunching to wrest control of the match at any point.
“It was completely not my day,” Kerber said. “I was not playing the tennis that I can play. She played really well. I think she played one of her best matches, to be honest. She hit, yeah, every ball in the court.”