Danielle Collins keeps winning, scoring a 12th straight victory at the Credit One Charleston Open in style on Saturday, dismissing Maria Sakkari, 6-3, 6-3 to reach a second final in two weeks.
“Another great week of tennis,” she declared to a full-court press at the Tennis Channel Live Desk. “I love coming out here and battling. This is what I live for, this is what I’m doing right now, so, I’ve got to bring the fire.”
Unseeded in Charleston, Collins is projected to return to the Top 20 after a brilliant month of tennis highlighted by her first WTA 1000 victory at the Miami Open. Though the 30-year-old is determined to make 2024 her last season on tour, she is making the most of every match, dropping just two sets in her last 12 matches.
“I definitely feel like, the older I get, the more I look at myself and think, ‘Wow, I’m really similar to my dad in so many ways, the way I get fired up and the attitude and everything.’ I think about that a lot on the court when I go out there and just bring that hot sauce. That’s what I was thinking today: hot sauce, baby!”
Collins brought the spice against rival Sakkari, who herself is in the midst of a spring resurgence after reaching the BNP Paribas Open final in March, but had few answers for the American in the second semifinal of the day, throwing in an ill-timed double fault on match point to send Collins into the championship match.
Standing between Collins and a second straight title is 2017 Charleston champion Daria Kasatkina, who won a third-set tiebreaker to topple Jessica Pegula and prevent an all-American final. Kasatkina leads their head-to-head 2-1, but Collins won their most recent encounter on the hard courts of San Diego back in 2021.
