Tennis | Australian Open 2022 | Can Danielle Collins stop Ashleigh Barty’s dominant bid for history?

Tony Fairbairn

Tennis

January 28, 2022

Ash Barty [1] v Danielle Collins [27]
H2H: Barty leads 3-1

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – Danielle Collins looks to stop Ashleigh Barty’s tournament of dominance with the world number one looking to become the first Australian singles champion at the Australian Open for 44 years.

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Ashleigh Barty [1] v Danielle Collins [27] H2H & Match Fundamentals

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Ashleigh Barty has produced a dominant tournament so far and is looking to become the first Australian singles winner of the Australian Open since Chris O’Neil in 1978. Standing in her way will be Danielle Collins who is looking to win her first grand slam title and cap off an incredible 12 months after having endometriosis surgery last year.

Ashleigh Barty [1] v Danielle Collins [27]	H2H: Barty leads 3-1
Australian Open	Melbourne, Australia
Hard (O)	Prize Money: $1,575,000/$2,875,000
Rod Laver Arena at 08:30 GMT	Discovery+ Add-on via Amazon Prime Sign up for 30 day free trial of Prime Video and a 7-day free trial of Discovery+ Player

Barty leads the head-to-head 3-1 however the American won their last meeting in Adelaide last year.

Tale of the Tape – Key Stats (2022 – Hard)

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H2H:	Ash Barty (WR 1)	Danielle Collins (WR 30)
Tournament Previous Best	SF (2020)	SF (2019)
1^st Serve %	62.2	58
Service Games Won %	88.9	82.1
Break Points Saved %	74.4	63.6
2^nd Serve Return Points Won %	43.4	60.2
Break Points Converted %	46.4	43.5

Barty has only been broken once in the entire tournament and it’s easy to see why when you compare the two players’ returning stats. When the American gets opportunities on second serve, she will be sure to capitalise though and will look to be aggressive on any shots that don’t land close to the baseline.

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Playing Styles and Prediction

This tournament has shown why Barty is world number one with the Australian having been broken just once throughout the entire tournament, just losing one set.

Barty’s mix of power and variety has dismantled opponents such as Jessica Pegula, Camila Giorgi and Madison Keys with Amanda Anisimova the only one making a set even close. Now the Australian looks to become the first singles winner in Melbourne for 44 years.

Ahead of the match on Saturday Barty admits it will be a new experience for her and admits the match against Collins will be a challenge, “Saturday’s going to be a new experience for me. So I go out there and embrace it, smile, try and do the best that I can and whatever happens, happens. I’m really looking forward to having one last crack here to really go out there and enjoy it,” the world number one told the WTA website.

“I think the way she’s able to control the baseline and really take the game on, she’s one of the most fierce competitors out here. She loves to get in your face and loves to really take it on. It’s going to be a challenge for me to try and neutralise as best that I can, but it is certainly nice to see her back out here playing her best stuff.”

Standing in Barty’s way of history is Collins who has been through a journey just to get to the Australian Open after overcoming endometriosis surgery 12 months ago.

Collins’ dominant win over Iga Swiatek was a statement of intent that she is here to win the title and create her own piece of history in Melbourne.

Speaking after her semi-final victory Collins believes that having a clear identity and roadmap is the key to success, “I’m hoping that I have many more matches like that in the future, but you also have to be realistic with yourself and realise that you’re not going to play that way every single time,” Collins admitted to the WTA website.

“But I think it really helps when you can have a real clear roadmap to what you want to do on court and how you want to execute your game plan.”

Collins has proven in the past that she can give the world number one a difficult match and the American knows how to disrupt any player’s rhythm.

However Barty has raised her game when it has mattered most over the course of this tournament with the slice and spin being even too much for the most powerful of opponents to handle.

Nerves will play a part for both players with so much history and personal emotion attached to this title but Barty’s experience and variety should be too much for the American to handle.

Prediction: Barty in three sets.