Australian Open: Angelique Kerber and Danielle Collins set round-four match
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The 25-year-old from Florida was the dominant figure on both the serve and return, firing up her initial shot to drop just 11 points in own games and lose serve once. Garcia needed much more than that to stay competitive, though, landing 75% of the first serve in but drawing nothing from that when we know she lost almost half of the points in her games, suffering four breaks from five chances she gave to Collins to stay behind all the time.
The American had 26 winners and 11 unforced errors, taming her shots nicely and outplaying the rival from the baseline despite the fact Garia also had more winners than errors. It promises to be a very tight match after the opening seven games, with one each hold after another and no deuces or break points what so ever.
The course of the encounter changed in the eighth game following a double fault from Garcia who was now 5-3 down, allowing Danielle to seal the opener with two winners in the next game for a 6-3 after 33 minutes of play. After taking the last three games of the opening set, Danielle did the same at the start of the second to open up a considerable lead, stealing rivals serve in games one and three and marching towards the finish line.
Garcia pulled one break back with a volley winner in game four, only to lose serve at love in the game that followed after a loose forehand, trailing 4-1 and moving further and further away from the finish line. Serving for the win at 5-2, Collins delivered two great backhands down the line to wrap up a great triumph and book the ticket for the last 16 clash against the 2nd seed Angelique Kerber.
. It was a rock-solid performance from a former world no.
1, dropping seven points on serve and never facing a break point. Kerber had 17 winners and ten unforced errors, controlling the pace from the baseline and taking more than 50% of the return points to earn ten break points, converting five of those for one of her best Australian Open wins.
The youngster got broken in the very first service game after she netted a forehand and Kerber closed the set in style, securing a break with a forehand winner at 4-1 and sealing the deal with another great forehand in the following game for a 6-1 after 27 minutes, rattling off the last 12 points! Kimberly wasted a game point at the start of the second set and she suffered a break after sending a backhand long, netting another one in game three to fall further down and Kerber moved 5-0 up with another break, serving for the match in the sixth game.
The German lost three points in that game but she converted the fourth match point with a forehand winner to secure the place in the last 16 and continue her great Australian Open run. <table
