Danielle Collins and Emma Navarro are two of the toughest players to defeat on the WTA Tour.
They were at it again Thursday in the round of 16 of the Credit One Charleston Open.
They usually don’t beat themselves, and most of the time they defeat their opponent. It was like that again on the green clay courts, both with an eye on playing the rest of the week.
Fortunately for them, they are on opposite halves of the draw. Yes, it’s possible that seed No. 7 defending champion Collins and No. 4 Navarro could get a dose of their own medicine in a possible final showdown.
KEYS LEAVES THE BOTTOM HALF OPEN
Of course, Collins and Navarro have some heavy lifting to do before they could meet in the final. But Australian Open champion Madison Keys is out of Navarro’s path after losing on Thursday.
No. 8 seed Amanda Anisimova awaits in the quarterfinals, knowing she owns a 2-0 edge in her meetings with Navarro.
“Amanda is really tough. Big serve, big ground strokes,” Navarro said.
With Keys out of the way, Navarro is a major threat to at least show up in Sunday’s final with only Anisimova and unseeded Sofia Kenin or 14th seed Anna Kalinskaya as possible opponents before the final.
Top seed Jessica Pegula stands in the way for Collins in the quarterfinals.
“She’s obviously playing some good tennis,” Pegula said about Collins.
“I guess it’s good that my record is 5 and 0 (against Collins). That can switch at any moment, so just treating it as if it’s maybe the first time we’ve played.”
THE NEW SURPRISE: SOFIA KENIN
Kenin is a real surprise to be in the quarterfinals, and could be a threat to win the tournament. She is 26 years old now, but five years ago she was playing Grand Slams as if she owned them. She did own the 2020 Australian Open as its champion, and then went all the way to the final of the French Open that year.
So, now Kenin yields just three games to 17th seed veteran Belinda Bencic in the second round, and now has scored a 6-3, 7-6 win over 12th seed and 2017 Charleston champion Daria Kasatkina in the round of 16.
If Kenin has really found her true game again, the lower half of the COCO draw will be interesting to watch. She is a serious contender, especially since her opponent in the quarters will be Kalinskaya.
Although the 26-year-old Kalinskaya was impressive in polishing off Keys, 6-2, 6-4, in the round of 16, it will be surprising if she makes a serious run. Her big win Thursday may have been due to less than a normal performance by Keys, who had sparkled so much in winning this year’s Australian Open.
Don’t forget Olympic champion and third seeded Qinwen Zheng. She also was the finalist to Keys at the Australian Open.
EMMA A REAL THREAT
Navarro appeared doomed a couple of times on Thursday before pinning a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss on Ashlynn Krueger.
“I think in the first set she was super in control. I really couldn’t get footing in my return games, her service games and just came out in the second set and played really aggressively and wanted to push back against her and make her think a little bit more on her serve,” Navarro said.
“I’m just trying to take it one match at a time and not get too far ahead of myself.”
Collins didn’t seem to have any big problems with former singles/doubles Grand Slam champion Jelena Ostapenko, winning 7-5, 6-3. Defending COCO champion Collins is the type of player who can turn on her big game at the drop of a ball.
Collins is again playing brilliant tennis with her huge strokes, just as she did this time last year.
The Pegula-Collins quarterfinal match on Friday should be the match of the day.
Quarterfinal Friday should be worth watching.
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James Beck was the 2003 winner of the USTA National Media Award for print media. A 1995 MBA graduate of The Citadel, he can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com.
