MELBOURNE: Danielle Collins overcame a slow start to book a maiden Grand Slam semi-final spot at the Australian Open when the unheralded American rallied from a set down to overcome Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6 7-5 6-1 on Tuesday.
Collins paid for an over-aggressive approach in the first set as 44th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova remained unflustered to break the American’s serve three times before taking the opener when her opponent sent a backhand wide.
The 25-year-old Collins found her range in the second, converting her third set point to break Pavlyuchenkova and level the match, before the world number 35 bulldozed through the third set to wrap up victory in two hours and 16 minutes.
Collins advances to play the winner of the match between Czech eighth seed Petra Kvitova and local hope Ashleigh Barty, who is seeded 15th, for a place in Saturday’s final.