Seed 27 Danielle Collins set up a showdown with top-ranked champion Ash Barty in the Australian Open final and capped off the win with a bizarre on-court interview.
The American wasn’t expected to beat seventh seed Iga Swiatek in her semi-final clash at Rod Laver Arena, but she had a break of serve in the first game of the match and continued to punish her rival in a 6-4 6-1 victory.
Collins was then asked by Australian tennis great Jelena Dokic about not sitting down between games and sets in the win over Swiatek, leading to an odd response.
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“Normally I sit down but for whatever reason in this tournament it seems like the clock is going quicker,” Collins said.
“I don’t know if it’s because the court’s a little bit bigger than some (courts in) the smaller tournaments, but I don’t really feel like I have time to sit down.
“Actually, I haven’t sat down the whole tournament.
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“I’ve just been standing up (during matches) and standing up when I sleep at night,” Collins added as Dokic and the crowd broke into laughter.
“No way!” Collins then joked as she shook her head and laughed.
Collins had only played in one singles semi-final at grand slam level prior to the win over Swiatek, when she lost in straight sets to Czech Petra Kvitova at the 2019 Australian Open.
Collins’ win over Swiatek also marked just her second victory against a top-10 player in the world at grand slam level.
Barty will take to Saturday night’s final as a red-hot favourite, after cruising through to the decider without dropping a set.
The Australian downed American Madison Keys 6-1 6-3 in her semi-final match.
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