WTA Strasbourg: Danielle Collins vs Madison Keys; Preview, Head-to-Head, and Prediction

Strasbourg is ready to witness an all-American clash at the finals of the 2024 Internationaux de Strasbourg. But does Madison have the keys to enter into the ‘Danimal’ zone? Recently after her victory in the SF, Danielle Collins said, “I’ve known Maddie a long time, and [she’s] a good friend.” But on Saturday, May 25 friends are gonna turn into foes for just a few hours. Who’s going to have the last laugh in this nail-biting clash in the grand finale of Strasbourg?

Danielle Collins has looked absolutely unstoppable over the last few months. She has won a staggering 22 of her last 24 matches so far. Neither of these two tennis stars has dropped a single set to reach the finals. Both Danielle Collins and Madison Keys share quite a similar style of play. Whoever wins the final would become the first American champion of the tournament since Jennifer Capriati in 1999.

Danielle Collins vs Madison Keys: Preview

Danielle Collins has already won two titles this season and apart from that she has reached two QFs and one SF before this tournament. She has been brilliant on clay this season. In Strasbourg, she has displayed a dominating brand of tennis and in the last match, she defeated Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina by a 7-6(3),6-2 scoreline. She hit two aces and committed an equal number of double faults in that match. Her first serve win percentage was 78% while it was just about 58% on the second serve. Collins converted four out of her seven breakpoints in that match.

Looking at her overall stats from this season, Danielle Collins has hit 143 aces and committed 161 double faults this season. So this is one part of her game that she would love to improve before heading into a much bigger stage in just a few hours from now. She has won 74.4% of her service games and 40.8% of her return games this season.

On the other hand, Madison Keys has also been in good form over the last few tournaments. She hasn’t taken part in too many tournaments this year but has already reached one SF and one QF on the clay court swing. In her previous match, Keys defeated Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova by a 6-1,6-3 margin. But she failed to hit a single ace in that match and committed a total of four double faults against the Russian.

Madison Keys won 61% of her first serve in that match and it crept up to 86% on the second serve. So, this is quite impressive and something to watch out for Collins. Keys converted six of her ten breakpoints against Samsonova. Can she convert the half chances and bring out the result of the finals in her favor on Saturday? Well, if we look at her numbers from this season, she has hit 56 aces and committed 33 double faults so far this season. Madison Keys has won 69.5% of her service games and just 32% of her return games this year. Numbers look quite decent, right? But what about their H2H record?

Collins vs Keys: Head-to-Head

Both of them have met each other on two occasions previously. They had first met each other at the 2018 Indian Wells Masters and in that match, Danielle Collins defeated Madison Keys by 6-3,7-6. However, in the next match, Keys defeated Collins at the QF of the 2020 Brisbane International by a 6-4,6-1 margin. So, currently, the H2H scoreline is leveled at 1-1.

Looking at the numbers from their latest encounters, Madison Keys hit five aces and committed just a single double fault in the entire QF match. While Danielle Collins hit just one ace and committed two double faults in that match. Collins has won 52% of her first serve and 55% of her second serve in that match. However, Keys was quite impressive on that. She won 93% of her first serve and 70% of her second serve in that match against Collins. Danielle Collins didn’t get any chance to convert any of her breakpoints while Madison Keys converted four of her ten breakpoints.

Prediction: Collins to win in three sets

Madison Keys has reached the 13th final in her career and her first of this season. She has won four of her last five finals on the Hologic WTA Tour. The 29-year-old tennis star is currently ranked the number 16 in the world and she has a win-loss record of 13-5 so far this season. While Danielle Collins (12) is knocking at the doors of breaking into the Top 10 of the world. She currently has a win-loss record of 31-9. Both of them love to display an aggressive style of tennis. They love to dictate the game from the baseline.

Collins has a powerful serve and strong groundstrokes on both wings to disrupt the flow of her opponents. She is in fact one of the hardest hitters on the WTA Tour. Her double-handed backhand is stronger than her forehand. While backhands are Madison Keys’ weakest shot, it’ll be interesting to see how Keys approaches this match on a relatively slow clay-court surface. Keys has pretty good serve and forehand on her armory. But she doesn’t go to the net too often, so perhaps Collins may utilize this in her favor. But talking about the winner of this match, there is only one name that comes to our mind first- ‘Danimal’!