Collins doubles up in Charleston as winning streak hits 10

Neither rain nor a pair of Grand Slam finalists can could cool off Danielle Collins thus far at the Credit One Charleston Open. The Miami champion won not one, but two matches on Thursday to run her unbeaten streak to 10 and reach the quarterfinals in Charleston for a second time.

Though she saw her sets-won streak end at 17, Collins nonetheless toppled defending champion and No.2 seed Ons Jabeur 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to begin the day on Thursday before returning to Credit One Stadium to kick off the night session with a 6-2, 6-2 win over fellow American Sloane Stephens. 

Stephens had previously beaten No.14 seed Leylah Fernandez, the 2021 US Open finalist, for the first time in four career meetings in her own postponed second-round match, 6-4, 6-4; the pair of Americans, as well as No.7 seed Elina Svitolina and No.11 seed Elise Mertens, all needed to win their second-round matches in the day session to catch up to the rest of the draw after six-plus hours of rain Wednesday forced the postponement of those matches.

Collins will next face Mertens, who topped Svitolina for the third time in seven tries -- and the first time since 2021 -- in a 6-4, 6-1 win after beating France's Varvara Gracheva in three sets earlier on.

"Obviously it's not easy coming out and playing two matches back to back, but very rewarding thing to be able to accomplish against two incredibly high-level players, a Top 6
player and a Grand Slam champion," Collins said after beating Stephens. "So I should be able to take this and use it as confidence moving forward.

"Especially with the previous health and physical challenges that I've had, it's a really rewarding day for me."

Kudermetova, Sakkari set first clay meeting in five years

Also through to the quarterfinals with straight-sets win on Thursday night were No.3 seed Maria Sakkari and No.9 seed Veronika Kudermetova, the 2021 Charleston champion, who'll face each other next.

Kudermetova defeated No.5 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-5, 6-1 despite trailing 4-2 in the opening set, while Sakkari ended the run of Australian lucky loser Astra Sharma, 6-4, 6-1, despite losing 10 straight points at one stage of the first set. 

Kudermetova won her first career Hologic WTA Tour singles title in Charleston three years ago, and her two wins at this tournament marked the first time she's won back-to-back matches at any event since she won the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo last September.

Sakkari leads the overall head-to-head between the two, 3-1, but the quarterfinal will be their first meeting on clay since their first meeting, which Kudermetova won in Istanbul in 2019.