By Scoop Malinowski
The two AO semifinals produced a dream final.
World no. 1 Ash Barty dispatched unseeded Madison Keys 61 63 and then 27 seed Danielle Collins upset 7 seed Iga Swiatek 64 61.
It’s an interesting final because of the contrast of styles and the element of Collins as the longshot underdog challenging the supreme female player in the world gunning for her first major in her home nation. Remember, just a few years ago Collins wasn’t good enough to crack the lineup of her first college team at University of Florida and later transferred to Virginia where she won two NCAA singles titles. Now the fiery, dynamic, ferocious Collins will compete in her first Grand Slam final, just a few months after her clothing sponsor New Balance decided to stop sponsoring her in favor of Coco Gauff, Sorana Cirstea, Heather Watson, and Genie Bouchard.
The best analysis of the women’s draw came from 1976 Roland Garros finalist Harold Solomon…
“I just want to say that it’s great to see two American women in the semi finals. There have been some really good matches which have shown their amazing athletic ability and ability to whack the ball. What is disappointing is the lack of variety demonstrated by everyone with the exception of Barty. Not very many slices or change of pace balls and virtually no drop shots which is still one of the most effective shots in women’s tennis when executed well. I think back to the US Open a few years back and how Andreescu played, she really had the ability to continue to hit the ball under all circumstances but she hit an amazing amount of slices and drop shots and came in to the net to finish off points. Now she hits no slices no drop shots, doesn’t change the pace and just gets into banging the ball all the time and her game has suffered for it. When watching the matches it is so obvious how effective slices, drop shots and high heavy balls could be but aside from Ash it doesn’t seem to happen.”
AO · AO22 · Ash Barty · Danielle Collins
