In her first match since May, Simona Halep ran into a red-hot Danielle Collins

MATCH POINT: Collins converts her fifth match point to topple Halep, 2-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Up 1-0 in the third set against Simona Halep in Montreal on Wednesday, Danielle Collins had a good look at a mid-court forehand on break point, but she pulled it wide. It was one of 42 errors that the American would commit on the evening, and it would cost her the game. The important thing, though, was the way she reacted. She put her head down and walked across the court to start the next point.

Collins, the self-described “Danimal,” is normally one of the sport’s great yellers. And she did let loose with good, loud “OH MY GOD!” after a missed return, and a sarcastic “HEL-LO!” after serving up an easy forehand to Halep. But for the most part, despite a slow start, despite not converting 15 break points, despite those 42 errors, Collins went about her business and kept her rage to herself. This is how you might expect someone who has won two straight tournaments and 14 of her last 15 matches to act.

In Halep, Collins was playing someone she had never beaten, and someone who completely outclassed her in a 6-2 first set. The Romanian was playing her first match since May, and she looked like she had been shot out off a cannon to start. She had energy to burn as she backpedaled to crank as many forehands as possible, and ran the taller and more powerful Collins from one corner to the other and back.

Judging by their respective pedigrees, this shouldn’t have been a surprise. Halep is a former No. 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion; Collins’ career high is No. 23. But this wasn’t a typical moment for them to meet. While Halep was trying to shake off three months of rust, Collins came in with as much confidence as she has ever had. When you’ve won 14 of 15 matches, you don’t let anything bother you, even a 6-2 first-set loss. Collins bided her time, waited for Halep’s second serves, and kept firing. She started to find her range at the beginning of the second set, and from that point on she was the one doing the hitting, and Halep was the one doing the running.

But nothing came easy, for either player, especially on serve. Each earned 22 break points, and each broke the other seven times. Any time Halep missed a first serve, she was punished for it. Twice when Collins reached game point on her own serve, she double faulted and was subsequently broken. Despite the lack of flow or sustained momentum, the match was full of grip-and-rip shotmaking and stubborn competitiveness. Collins belted her backhands crosscourt for winners; Halep reached up and slam-dunked her forehand inside-out.

Halep led by a break, 3-2 in the third, when Collins received a long medical time-out for what appeared to be a left hip or leg problem. Then she came back on court and won four of the last five games for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in two hours and 55 minutes. The last game, in which Collins reached match point five times, and Halep saved four of them, was a fittingly gritty finale.

Afterward, Collins, who also won her first match this week in three sets, couldn’t bring herself to smile.

“Today was obviously really painful at the end,” she said through tears, “and I’m lucky that I got through it.”

A little luck, a little pain, a lot of confident swings, and a sense of calm about it all: That will get you 12 wins in a row. Collins will try, as long her body cooperates, for No. 13 against fellow American Jessica Pegula on Thursday night.