- Player defeated Elise Mertens 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours
- American underwent emergency surgery to treat endometriosis
Just under a year ago, right in the heat of another Australian summer, Danielle Collins was reduced to a level of pain that she would not wish on another soul. By the third set of her match against Daria Kasatkina in the Philip Island Trophy, an event held at Melbourne Park during the second week of the Australian Open, she fell to the ground while severely cramping in her abdominal muscles and pelvis.
Through her pained tears, Collins had to resort to hitting underarm serves and throwing up desperate moonballs but she fell 6-1 in the final set. A week later, she withdrew from a tournament in Adelaide with severe back pain that flared up around her cycle but would not show up on MRI scans.
