MELBOURNE: An emotional Petra Kvitova swept into her first Grand Slam semi-final since a terrifying knife attack almost ended her career.
Czech Kvitova had not gone past the last eight at a major since a burglar slashed her left hand in December 2016, forcing her out of the game for six months and leaving her with lasting nerve damage in the fingers of her racquet hand.
But the eighth seed has bounced back and is on a sensational 10-match unbeaten streak after claiming the Sydney International warm-up title.
On day nine of the Australian Open, she proved too much for Ashleigh Barty, crushing the local hope 6-1, 6-4, and was in tears afterwards as she reflected on her long journey back to the top.
“Really, I didn’t imagine to be back on this great stadium and play with the best,” the two-time Wimbledon champion said.
“I’m calling it as my second career. So it’s the first semi-final of the second career. I’m really enjoying it.”
Kvitova will face unseeded American Collins in the semi-final on Thursday and she desperately wants to reach Saturday’s decider.
“I want it bad, that’s right,” she said.
Collins, the world number 35, had never won a Grand Slam match before entering this year’s tournament but she stunned three-time major champion and second seed Angelique Kerber in round four.
And the 25-year-old from Florida continued her Cinderella run by bouncing back spectacularly to down Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the quarter-finals.
Collins, who has spent long stretches of her career playing small tournaments to build up her ranking points, was in big trouble after losing the first set to the world number 44.
But she fearlessly battled back into the match to again stamp her mark on the tournament.
“This has all been a really incredible experience,” she said.
“This time last year I was playing a challenger (tournament) in Newport Beach. But, yeah, I think I’m really embracing it. It makes it a lot easier when you play in front of great fans and really good energy.”