Collins upsets Venus in Miami quarterfinal

WASHINGTON, March 28 (Xinhua) -- American qualifier Danielle Collins garnered the first Top 10 win of her career with a straight-set triumph over legendary compatriot Venus Williams in the quarterfinal at the Miami Open on Wednesday.

Collins swiftly defeated No.8 seed and three-time champion Williams 6-2, 6-3 in just 87 minutes and she said it's unbelievable to beat her idol.

"I obviously have an incredible amount of respect for Venus, but you kind of have to take the name out of it and just focus on the tennis part and play one point at a time and use your tactics that you come up with your coaches," said Collins.

It's Collins' first top 10 win of her career, and she has become the first qualifier in the history of the Miami Open to reach the semifinals, which will also be the first Tour-level semifinal of her career.

"I have put in the hard work my whole life, so at the end of the day, I know I have done literally everything I can do to put myself in the best situation," said Collins. "And if I win the match, I win the match and it's awesome. If I lose the match, I lose the match knowing that I did everything in my power to put myself in the best situation."

Collins used her aggressive baseline style to quickly outplay the former world No.1, winning her seventh match in a row on the courts of Key Biscayne after two straight-set wins in the qualifying and five main draw victories. The qualifier had 18 winners in the match, two more than Williams, and won nearly half of the points when returning Williams' serve.

"It was unlucky for me," Williams said. "I don't think it was my best night of tennis, but there wasn't a shot she couldn't make. So that was just, you know, of course one of those days."

In the semifinals, Collins will square off against sixth seed and reigning Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, who outdueled No.4 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine in two tiebreak sets earlier on Wednesday.

Collins and Ostapenko have never played a professional match against each other, but did contest a junior match in 2011.

"I played Ostapenko a long time ago, so I'm really excited now that we're kind of grown up to play against each other," Collins said. "She's a fighter. She won the French Open. It's going to be another incredible opportunity for me, and I'm just really looking forward to get out on the court and having a great match." Enditem