Collins battles past Aiava, partisan crowd to set Keys meeting in Melbourne

Danielle Collins

View Profile has never been a player to hide what she feels, and the No.10 seed let it all out after finally quelling Destanee Aiava

View Profile 's challenge 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-2.

With a repeated cry of "How 'bout that!" the American blew kisses to all corners of the Kia Arena, which had been solidly behind Aiava, the last Australian left in the draw, for the preceding 2 hours and 25 minutes.

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Collins received a smattering of boos in response, which she greeted with a broad smile and a bit of banter. In her on-court interview, she joked that those cheering against her had helped fund her upcoming holiday.

"I was thinking during the match, I'm out of here, I might as well just take that big, fat paycheck," Collins told the crowd. "CoCo [Vandeweghe, who was in her support box] and I, we love a good five-star vacation. So part of that cheque is going to go towards that. So thank you, guys, thanks for coming out here and supporting us tonight!"

Afterward, Collins spoke about how much motivation she drew from the crowd.

"I loved it," she told press. "I've been doing this my whole life. I love playing in a crowd that has energy, regardless of what side they're on. It just motivates me even more. ... I think it really helped me in the end. Just helped me concentrate more and challenged me at times. Just pushed me through the finish line.

"One of the greatest things about being a professional athlete is the people that don't like you and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills. It's kind of a cool concept. Obviously my professional career is not going to last forever. So I just remind myself every day when I have that kind of stuff, they're paying my bills. Every person that's bought a ticket to come out here and heckle me or do what they do, it's all going towards the Danielle Collins

View Profile Fund.

"Yeah bring it on. I love it ... All I have to say is seriously, good luck trying to get under the skin of somebody that really doesn't care."

The attitude Collins had displayed with her tennis had been roughly the same over the course of the match. Between them, the two players saved a total of 10 break points over the first three games -- setting the stage for a big-hitting barnburner in which neither player was afraid to pulverize the ball at the slightest opportunity.

Aiava, 24, was on a nine-match winning streak and had drawn attention for both her breakthrough run and her vintage outfits (this time, she wore the dress popularized by Maria Sharapova at the 2013 Australian Open). Her 25 winners and ability to find her biggest serves under break-point pressure early on energized the crowd, and despite losing the first set on a tiebreak she responded by overpowering Collins in the second.

But Collins was able to regain some momentum before the match went to a decider. Down 5-2, she took a medical time-out to receive treatment on her foot, and cut Aiava's lead to 5-4. Down 3-2 in the third set, Collins saved a break point with a service winner -- and once she'd escaped that game, the 31-year-old took control, unleashing on return to reel off the last four games of the contest.

Keys edges Ruse in tight three-setter

Collins will face compatriot and friend Madison Keys

View Profile , who also had to hold off a determined opponent to progress. The No.19 seed scraped past qualifier Elena-Gabriela Ruse

View Profile  7-6(1), 2-6, 7-5 in 2 hours and 30 minutes, extending her winning streak to seven -- but only just.

No.125-ranked Ruse is no stranger to an upset. She took out Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova

View Profile at the same stage of the US Open, and was bidding for a third career Top 20 win. In a first encounter between the pair, Keys' form oscillated throughout. After leading 4-0 in the first set, the American needed a tiebreak to close it out. She then trailed by a break at 4-3 in the decider before proving too strong in the home stretch.

"That was not the prettiest tennis and I really had to gut it out," Keys said in her on-court interview. "And she played at a really high level. I had to keep adjusting what I was trying to do. I wasn't serving as well as I wanted to, or dictating as much as I wanted to, so I had to switch game plan and just try to survive out here."

Keys tallied 37 winners to 44 unforced errors, and landed 69% of her first serves. However, the most crucial number in the third set was her second-serve points won: from 40% in the first set and 20% in the second set, this went up to 80% in the decider.

Both players committed to aggression off the ground, and both consequently rode the wave of big winners and wild errors throughout the match. But Keys found an extra level when she needed to. Leading 5-4 in the third set, she won the point of the match with some stellar scrambling, eventually nailing a backhand pass past Ruse to reach her second match point.

Though the Romanian escaped that game, it was Keys who seized the momentum. The former US Open finalist rattled off eight of the last nine points as Ruse lapsed into a succession of cheap errors and double faults at precisely the wrong time.

Keys leads the head-to-head with Collins 2-1. Their most recent meeting was in last year's Strasbourg final, which Keys won 6-1, 6-2, but they have split their two previous encounters on hard courts.

Paolini, Svitolina, Veronika Kudermetova

View Profile advance

No.4 seed Jasmine Paolini

View Profile closed out the Rod Laver Arena night session with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Renata Zarazua

View Profile . The Mexican No.1 had her moments, breaking Paolini in the first game with a brilliant all-court exchange and threatening a comeback throughout the second set, but the Roland Garros and Wimbledon finalist managed to keep a lid on the match to close it out in 1 hour and 16 minutes.

Playing her first tournament since the US Open due to undergoing foot surgery, former No.3 Elina Svitolina

View Profile continued to go about her business efficiently. The Ukrainian No.28 seed fired 29 winners, including seven aces, to dismiss Caroline Dolehide

View Profile 6-1, 6-4 in 1 hour and 14 minutes. Svitolina will next meet Paolini for the first time.

Former No.9 Veronika Kudermetova

View Profile returned to the third round of a major for the first time since the 2022 US Open with a seesaw 7-6(3), 2-6, 6-2 victory over No.22 seed Katie Boulter

View Profile . Kudermetova led 5-1 in the first set, but saw her lead -- and first three set points -- evaporate as the Briton embarked on a comeback. But Kudermetova found powerful winners when she needed them in both the tiebreak and the deciding set. She will next face No.15 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia

View Profile , who came from a break down in the second set to defeat Erika Andreeva

View Profile 6-2, 6-3.

Two unseeded players hit the milestone of their debut Grand Slam third-round appearance, and will now face each other for a spot in the second week. No.82-ranked Jaqueline Cristian had lost both of her previous major second rounds, and lost in the first round in each of 2024's Grand Slams. But the Romanian edged Lucia Bronzetti

View Profile 7-5, 7-5 to break new ground in her ninth main draw.

Lucky loser Eva Lys

View Profile , who only found out she had a spot in the draw 10 minutes before her first-round match, continued to make the best of her second chance. The 22-year-old German, ranked No.128, overcame Varvara Gracheva

View Profile 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in 1 hour and 56 minutes. coming up with as series of laser-like backhand winners in the home stretch.