Collins ousts Raducanu in Strasbourg; Navarro reaches quarters
Wednesday started off well for the Stars and Stripes at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, with last year's runner-up Danielle Collins and No. 2 seed Emma Navarro picking up wins for the United States.
Strasbourg: Draws | Scores | Order of play
Collins, who finished second to Madison Keys here last year, overcame Great Britain's Emma Raducanu 4-6, 6-1, 6-3 in a back-and-forth clash between former Top 10 players.
Surprisingly, it was the first meeting between the two notable names, and it was 2022 Australian Open finalist Collins who came out on top over 2021 US Open champion Raducanu. Collins took 2 hours and 20 minutes to pull off the comeback.
In Wednesday's match, Raducanu found some of her best deliveries down break point to get through the first set without losing serve. The Brit closed out the first set with back-to-back aces.
But Collins rebounded in the second set, winning a sterling 93 percent of points behind her first serve. Raducanu also received an off-court medical time-out at the tail end of that set.
The final set saw Collins crucially save four break points in a tough hold for 2-2, then she used that momentum to notch the first break of the set and lead 3-2.
Collins won three of the next four games to close out the win and boost her Strasbourg career record to 6-2. Collins is into her second quarterfinal of the season -- her first also came on the dirt, on the green clay of Charleston in April.
She will not be part of an all-American quarterfinal, though. In the last match of the day, Anna Kalinskaya upset No. 1 seed Jessica Pegula to set up a quarterfinal meeting with Collins.
Collins has won both of her two previous meetings with Kalinskaya, which were in 2023 on hard court at the Australian Open and Austin.
Navarro, Haddad Maia line up quarterfinal meeting with straight-sets wins
Earlier, World No. 10 Navarro eased into the quarterfinals with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over qualifier Anna Blinkova. Navarro took 93 minutes to prevail and match her Strasbourg quarterfinal showing from 2023.
Navarro converted half of her 12 break points in the match, negating any damage which might have been done from her seven double faults. Navarro has a 4-0 record against qualifiers in WTA main-draw matches in 2025.
Navarro's quarterfinal opponent will be No. 9 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil. Haddad Maia beat Ashlyn Krueger 7-6(3), 6-3 and prevented Americans from going 3-for-3 in Wednesday's first trio of matches.
It is a much-needed first quarterfinal of the year for former World No. 10 Haddad Maia, who at one point this season had lost seven tour-level matches in a row.
Navarro and Haddad Maia have split their four previous meetings. Haddad Maia beat Navarro in Strasbourg last year, but Navarro won their most recent match handily -- 6-3, 6-0 for the American on Stuttgart's indoor clay last month.
