Barty can make history but Collins no pushover

MELBOURNE • It is all about choices, this game of tennis and life. Down-the-line or cross court? Rip or chip? Stay home and rebuild your strength and well-being? Or hit the road in search of more points and glory?

The coronavirus pandemic that disrupted old patterns and created new problems has made some of the choices more complicated, but Ashleigh Barty is on a hot streak, as anyone who has played her in this Australian Open can confirm.

"I'm just happy that I get to play my best tennis here. I enjoy it. I've done well before, and now we have a chance to play for a title," the world No. 1 said ahead of today's singles final against American Danielle Collins.

Barty routinely uses "we" when discussing her tennis, wanting to incorporate her support team.

But she is the one making history as the first Australian since Wendy Turnbull in 1980 to reach the women's singles final at the Australian Open.

Win today and she will be the first Australian singles champion here in 44 years. Chris O'Neil, the last woman to do so, will be present today, as will her idol and seven-time Grand Slam champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley.

Both are expecting Barty to live up to expectations, and the reigning Wimbledon champion is relishing what could be a record-breaking moment.

"(I'll) go out there and embrace it, smile, try and do the best that I can and whatever happens, happens," the 25-year-old said.

But first she must get past the latest surprise in women's tennis at a Major: the big-hitting Collins.

Barty deserves to be the big favourite based on her No. 1 ranking, her two previous Slam titles and precision under pressure over the last two weeks.

She is 10-0 and has dropped just 21 games in six matches, not dropped a set so far and dropped serve just once.

Her variety is her strength, and as her semi-final with Madison Keys developed, she rarely gave her opponent the same type of shot for long, mixing two-handed backhand drives with one-hand slices, off-speed angled forehands with bolts up the line.

"Everything has just improved a little bit," Keys said of Barty.

"I think she's gotten a little bit more precise on her serve. I think her forehand she's doing a really good job at mixing up paces and spins as well.

"It feels like you can't really get in a rhythm off of that forehand side. Then on her backhand side, I mean, everything is coming in at your shoelaces on the baseline."

But Collins, seeded 27th and a semi-finalist here in 2019, is one of the most ferocious competitors in the game and has been serving and returning particularly well down the stretch at Melbourne Park.

Acknowledging her opponent's strengths - the Slam final debutante has hit a tournament-high 32 return winners - Barty said: "She loves to get in your face and loves to really take it on."

Barty leads their head-to-head series 3-1, but Collins won their most recent match in straight sets in Adelaide last February, and has twice pushed her to three sets in defeat.

One of Barty's victories came in the second round of the 2019 French Open, where she went on to win her first Slam.

She also beat Americans Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova and Keys in that tournament, just as she has defeated them in this Australian Open.

Foreshadowing?

Collins hopes not.

Even if the 28-year-old will be the equivalent of the visiting team that is up against a partisan crowd, she said she will appreciate the atmosphere after playing in empty stadiums during the pandemic.

"I'm just really grateful to be able to see faces in the crowd again and to see people getting fired up, seeing positive energy," she added.

"That's something that I really thrive in, whether I have a full crowd going for me or whether I have the opposite or somewhere in the middle. I really just love the energy. I think that's what all professional athletes play for."

Since July, she has a 32-7 singles record and will rise to at least 20 places to No. 10 in the rankings on Monday, becoming the top-ranked American.

Having come back convincingly in the last nine months after surgery for endometriosis, Collins feels she has nothing to lose in today's final.

"To be the top-ranked (American) female means so much to me. It was not that long ago, only a few years ago, that I started with a ranking of zero," she said.

Asked what first came to mind when she first heard the words "Danielle Collins, Grand Slam finalist", she thought for close to 10 seconds and then answered slowly,

"The next task at hand. Trying to win the next match."

REUTERS, NYTIMES

Final: Boys' & girls' (9am), women's singles & men's doubles (4pm) - StarHub Ch211