Danielle Collins extends winning streak to 14 matches in a row with opening victory in Madrid

After back-to-back titles in Miami and Charleston, Danielle Collins has officially taken her winning streak across the pond, battling back from a set and a break down to beat Serbian qualifier Olga Danilovic in her opening match in Madrid on Friday, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8).

Collins has now won her last 14 matches in a row, and the winning streak spans three different surfaces, too—hard courts in Miami, green clay in Charleston and now red clay in Madrid.

Danilovic did sneak out a rare set against Collins, but the American has still won 28 of the last 30 sets she’s played. Since dropping the first set of her first match in Miami to Bernarda Pera, she’s only lost two sets—one to Danilovic on Friday, and the middle set of her 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over Ons Jabeur in the second round of Charleston.

The last player to win a match against Collins was the world No. 1, Iga Swiatek, who defeated her in the second round of Indian Wells.

COLLINS SINCE START OF MIAMI OPEN: 14-0
d. Pera in Miami 1st Rd, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1
d. Potapova in Miami 2nd Rd, 6-2, 6-2
d. Avanesyan in Miami 3rd Rd, 6-1, 6-2
d. Cirstea in Miami 4th Rd, 6-3, 6-2
d. Garcia in Miami QFs, 6-3, 6-2
d. Alexandrova in Miami SFs, 6-3, 6-2
d. Rybakina in Miami F, 7-5, 6-3
d. Badosa in Charleston 1st Rd, 6-1, 6-4
d. Jabeur in Charleston 2nd Rd, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
d. Stephens in Charleston 3rd Rd, 6-2, 6-2
d. Mertens in Charleston QFs, 6-3, 6-4
d. Sakkari in Charleston SFs, 6-3, 6-3
d. Kasatkina in Charleston F, 6-2, 6-1
d. Danilovic in Madrid 2nd Rd, 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8)

Friday night’s match was a rollercoaster from start to finish, with Danilovic originally up a set and a break at 6-4, 3-1—she even had two break points in the next game that would have given her a 6-4, 4-1 double-break lead, but Collins saved them both and broke back in the next game to get the second set back on serve.

Danilovic had two more break points at 4-all second set that would’ve given her a shot to serve for it, but Collins saved those, too.

The Serbian then did serve for the match at 5-4 in the third set but got broken, and even after all that she still never threw in the towel, fighting off five match points in the third set tie-break—three from 6-3, then another two down 7-6 and 8-7—before Collins finally closed the match out on her sixth match point after two hours and 46 minutes on court with a huge forehand down-the-line winner.

It was the American’s 35th winner of the night.

Both players finished the match with 108 points.

Awaiting the No. 13-seeded Collins in the third round will be unseeded Romanian Jaqueline Cristian, who took out No. 22-seeded Barbora Krejcikova earlier on Friday, 2-6, 6-0, 6-2.

Collins and Cristian will be playing each other for the first time.