Defending champion Swiatek ousted by Collins at Italian Open

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was bundled out of the Italian Open by American Danielle Collins, who beat the Polish world number two 6-1 7-5 in the round of 32 on Saturday.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek went 5-0 down in the opening set before managing to get on board and avoid an embarrassing bagel.

While the first set was all one-way traffic, the second was level at 4-4 before 2022 Australian Open runner-up Collins pulled away with the win in one hour and 44 minutes.

Swiatek, who held a commanding 7-1 head-to-head record against Collins before heading into the contest, has not won a tournament in almost a year.

“I played Iga so many times. The winning favor is in her favor. When you play that many close matches and play some of your best tennis but lose, you learn a lot. I feel like I applied that today,” Collins, 31, said.

Source: espn.com