MADRID -- World No.15 Danielle Collins came back from a set down to extend her winning streak to 15 matches, defeating Romania's Jaqueline Cristian 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

After sweeping the titles at the Miami Open and Credit One Charleston Open earlier this month, Collins is into the Round of 16 in Madrid for the first time. 

"I've been doing so well the last couple of weeks, I think the girls know that when they come out and play me, they gotta go for it," Collins said afterward. "That certainly was taking place the last two matches, some big shots that I've had to counter, and be able to react quickly.

"Ultimately, I had to serve and return very well in both of those matches to be able to try to get it done. It’s to be expected when you've had this many wins, that people are going to up their game. They have to, so I'm ready for it, as much as I can be."

Collins lost just one set across her title runs in Miami and Charleston, but her fighting qualities have been on full display through the first week in Madrid. She came from a set down in her opening match against Serbia's Olga Danilovic, winning that match 10-8 in a third-set tiebreak. 

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In Cristian, Collins faced down one of the most in-form clay-court players on tour. The Romanian came into the match having won eight of her ten clay-court matches this season, including wins over Madison Keys and Emma Navarro in Charleston and 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the previous round in Madrid. 

Just one break of serve separated the two through the first two sets. Cristian took the early advantage in the first set after breaking for a 4-2 lead, but Collins bounced back to break Cristian in the final game of the second set to force a decider. 

Having worked her way back into the match, Collins dominated the final frame. She closed out the victory with her 8th ace of the match after 2 hours and 1 minute. 

13th-seeded Collins will now face defending champion and World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in Monday's Round of 16. Sabalenka has defeated Collins in all four of their previous meetings, but this will be their first meeting off of hard court.

Defending champion Sabalenka holds off 19-year-old Montgomery in Madrid

Sabalenka survives Montgomery: Sabalenka squeaked through a challenging test against 19-year-old American wild card Robin Montgomery on Sunday night, eventually prevailing 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-4 in 2 hours and 29 minutes.

The Madrid champion in 2021 as well as last year, Sabalenka is bidding to become only the second woman to win in Madrid three times. Petra Kvitova also won this event thrice, in 2011, 2015 and 2018.

Sabalenka dominated the first set on Sunday night, but World No.183 Montgomery ended up pushing the second seed to the limit. Neither player dropped serve in the second set, and it was the American teen who captured the tiebreak in only her second match against a Top 20 player.

Sabalenka then lost an early break in the third set as Montgomery kept pace through 4-4. But after a thunderous hold for 5-4, Sabalenka rose to the occasion in the following game, lining up triple match point with an unreturnable overhead.

Montgomery netted a forehand on Sabalenka's first match point, and the World No.2 made it through the evening, capturing her eighth straight win in Madrid.