American Danielle Collins needed just 56 minutes to beat Ukrainian fourth seed Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Brisbane International on Monday, recording the first upset of a Top 10 player in 2020. Angelique Kerber and Johanna Konta are two more big-name casualties in the Premier-tournament’s opening round.
Wearing New Balance’s Spring 2020 collection, the 27th-ranked Collins dominated every facet of the first-round match, as the 2018 Brisbane champion Svitolina won just 38% and 39% of points behind her first and second serves respectively, whilst converting none of her four break point opportunities.
Australian wildcard Samantha Stosur upset fellow former Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber in two tight sets, 7-6(5) 7-6(4), finally not underperforming in front of home crowd. The world No.98 Stosur, once ranked fourth in the world, employed effective tactics by her new coach and good friend Rennae Stubbs:
She knows all the players, her tactical awareness and everything about the players is excellent. That was something last year when I was going through without a coach, I found hard to do that day after day.
Barbora Strycova dominated the opener against seventh seed Johanna Konta, and despite losing the second set, the Czech eventually prevailed 6-2 3-6 6-3. This is Konta’s third straight loss to the world No.31 Strycova.
