For Petra Kvitova, it was a place she never thought she'd experience again. For Danielle Collins, it was a place that was a whole new world to her.
For eight games, the American kept pace with the eighth-seeded Czech. Once the roof closed, Kvitova rained winners for a 7-6(2), 6-0 victory to reach her third career Grand Slam final and her first at the Australian Open. She will face Naomi Osaka in the final for the title and right to be world number one.
Hot And Heavy
It was a scorching 105 degrees in Melbourne, but the roof remained open to start. Kvitova, who tends to struggle in the heat, was broken in the fifth game filled with errors. The two women had met in Brisbane just a couple weeks before with Kvitova just edging out Collins in three sets which Collins hoped to change on the day.
Kvitova began to get the American more on the run the following game, resulting in the break back. The roof closed after eight games, much to the delight of the fans and Kvitova as that swung the momentum of the match massively.
With the sun and heat anything but a factor, the set went into a tiebreak where the Czech played her best tennis. She took the early mini-break for 2-1 after taking a deep forehand from Collins and smacking a cross-court winner. Kvitova did not look back after that, dropping only one other point after that.
Domination
The one-sided tiebreak score proved to be foreshadowing for the rest of the match after Kvitova took the lead immediately in the set. Everything Collins threw at the Czech was returned with interest, whether it be painting the lines, finding corners, or hitting winners.
From the beginning of the tiebreak to the middle of the second set, Collins only won a total of eight points which for anyone would be a tall order to try and flip the script against an on fire Kvitova.
Collins had her one chance to hold serve in the fifth game, but Kvitova continued her run of games to move up 5-0. It was no problem for the eight seed closing it out with a forehand winner as she smiled to reach her first Grand Slam final since Wimbledon 2014.