Italian Open 2024: Danielle Collins vs Victoria Azarenka; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction

Danielle Collins is on fire this season, playing some incredible tennis on both hard and clay courts. So, for anyone to face her in a QF match is a challenging affair. Is there anyone to counter this ‘fearless’ brand of tennis? Victoria Azarenka recently stated, “I wanted to play her.” And Guess what? She’s going to face ‘Danimal’ in the QF of the 2024 Italian Open on Wednesday (May 15). How big a threat is this former world number one to Collins’ dream of achieving her third title this season in Rome?

Victoria Azarenka has a 6-2 win-loss record on clay this season while Danielle Collins is yet to drop a set in this tournament. It will be interesting to see who will win this intriguing encounter, in just a few hours from now.

Danielle Collins vs Victoria Azarenka: Preview

Before taking her flight to Rome, Danielle Collins had already clinched two titles and reached the QFs twice in her previous tournaments this year. She thrashed Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu by 6-0,6-3 in her previous match in Rome. In that match, Collins hit two aces and committed equal double faults. Her first serve win percentage was 79% while on the second serve, it was around 75%. She converted four of her seven breakpoints against Begu.

Her numbers are quite decent this year, but she’d love to put a check on her high double-fault counts in the rest of her matches. Danielle Collins has fired 126 aces this season, but she has committed 136 double faults. She has won 74.3% of her service games and 40.3% of her return games this season.

On the other hand, Victoria Azarenka has made quite a few deep runs too. But has she won any title this year? No. And, this is the exact reason why she would love to make it count this time around in Rome. Azarenka has reached two SFs and two QFs previously this season. And this will be her seventh QF appearance in Rome. She defeated Maria Sakkari in her previous match by 6-4,6-1. In that match, she failed to hit even a single ace but committed one double fault.

Her first-serve win percentage was 65%, but it rose to 67% on the second-serve. She successfully converted six of her ten breakpoints against Sakkari. Victoria Azarenka has hit 88 aces this season and has committed an equal number of double faults this season. She has won 73.9% of her service games but could manage to win just 37.3% of her return games. But which of these two players has the edge in their H2H stats?

Collins vs Azarenka: Head-to-Head

Currently, they are leveled at 1-1 in their H2H. Their first meeting was in the QF of the Silicon Valley Classic in 2018. Azarenka was forced to retire in that match, and Collins was declared the winner in that faceoff. But in the next meeting at the 2019 Mexican Open, Victoria Azarenka defeated Danielle Collins by 6-1,6-2.

In that match, Collins failed to hit even a single ace against the Belarusian but committed five double faults. While Azarenka kept it clean, hitting three aces and committing zero double faults. Azarenka’s first serve win percentage was 77% and her second serve win percentage was 47% against the American. On the other hand, Danielle Collins won just 46% of her first serve and it dropped further to 44% on the second serve. Azarenka converted six out of her seven breakpoints but Collins managed to convert just one of five breakpoints against the former world number one. However, this year, Danielle Collins has been unstoppable! Will she manage to reach yet another SF this season?

Prediction: Collins to win this match in three sets

Danielle Collins has won 18 of her last 19 matches and this is her longest run in this tournament. While on the other hand, Azarenka reached the finals of the Italian Open in 2013. If we consider the results of this tournament, Victoria Azarenka has a win-loss record of 20-8 this season while it’s 31-8 for the American.

Both of them play an aggressive brand of tennis. Collins loves to hit powerful serves and she is in fact one of the hardest hitters on the women’s tour. Her double-handed backhand is quite stronger than her forehand. Azarenka would love to rely on her signature backhand shot down the line to make her opponent uncomfortable in the QF. Reducing the number of double faults and taking an early lead in the match will be the key to success in this exciting contest. Looking at the current form, Collins looks slightly ahead of Azarenka in this match.