With fearless hitting, Collins knocks out defending champ Iga Swiatek in Rome

History doesn’t always repeat itself. Sometimes, it can create the motivation to change things.

Before Saturday’s third-round match against World No. 2 Iga Swiatek

View Profile , Danielle Collins

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“After losing to Iga so many times, you obviously learn from those experiences, matchups,” the No. 29-seeded Collins explained later. “Even though the last couple times we've played she’s beaten me, I’ve played some of my best tennis in those matches.

“So that gave me confidence. Then just learning from those situations, executing my game style and being a little bit more accurate than the times before.”

Clearly, that was an understatement, for Collins sprang a stunning 6-1, 7-5 upset on the greatest clay-court player of the current generation. From beginning to end, there was an unnerving clarity to her explosive game.

Collins finished with 32 winners, against only 15 unforced errors. Swiatek’s numbers were 15 and 22. Collins converted six of eight break-point opportunities, while Swiatek was only 2-for-10 -- Collins actually broke her serve each of the first five times she gained a break point.

“Obviously with my game style, I play a pretty aggressive game style,” Collins told reporters. “Sometimes that can go one way or another. It can look really great and flashy, and other times you can miss some shots. 

“But I think having the confidence and trusting myself in those big moments to go after it, to trust my athleticism and to really, yeah, just like not be afraid to go after my shots in those big moments I think was key.”

It’s difficult to put this result into any kind of meaningful context. Swiatek lost her first main-draw match in Rome five years ago to Arantxa Rus

View Profile . She was 18 years old. After that, she became virtually unbeatable, winning the title three of the past four years. Before Saturday, Swiatek had won an astounding 21 of her past 22 matches at Foro Italico -- that’s a winning percentage of 91.3 -- second only to Chris Evert’s 92.3.

And so, the four-time champion at Roland Garros will go into Paris without a title since last year’s romp through the French Open field. The unwavering confidence, the absolute conviction that has carried the 23-year-old from Poland at or near the top of tennis for three years seems to be gone.

With all due respect to her smashing victory, Collins was asked if she saw vulnerabilities in Swiatek’s game.

“Yeah,” Collins said, “I think there’s definitely some things that stand out. I don’t think we need -- I don’t intend to visit those areas of her game or criticize what she’s doing, so ... this isn’t the forum to do that.”

The loss also means the end of another remarkable run.

Swiatek, the defending champion in Rome, has been the No. 1 or No. 2 player for more than three years now, but she will be No. 4 in the next PIF WTA Rankings. Americans Coco Gauff

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What happened, exactly? Look no further than Swiatek’s service game. 

Twice, in the pressure-packed setting of break point in the first set, Swiatek double-faulted. In four games, she won only five points on her serve. After falling to Gauff in the semifinals at Madrid, Swiatek managed only a single game for the third time in five sets.

Those woes extended to the second set when Collins broke her for the fifth straight time.

“Iga, very simple … play to win,” her coach Wim Fissette implored during that game. “Put your energy into it -- play to win.”

In the fourth game, Swiatek held for the first time. In the sixth, there was a flicker of hope. Swiatek had a pair of mid-court balls but couldn’t keep them in the court. Down love-30, she navigated her way out of danger, winning the last four points to make it 3-all.

Serving at 4-5, Swiatek saved a match point. But it wasn’t to be enough. Collins converted her third match point when a Swiatek backhand sailed wide.

It was the ninth defeat for Swiatek this season -- equaling her entire total from last year.

Swiatek’s remarkable string of 26 consecutive Round of 16s in WTA 1000s came to an end. This was the first time since Cincinnati 2021, when she was defeated by Ons Jabeur

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For Collins, it was the first Top 10 win in more than a year, going back to last year’s Charleston event. It was also her third career win against a Top 2 player, following her defeats of Ashleigh Barty at Adelaide 2021 and Angelique Kerber at Australian Open 2019. She was 2-15 going in.

On Monday, Collins will play No. 16 Elina Svitolina

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