Danielle Collins and Madison Keys each reach semifinals of the 2022 Australian Open

Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, FL and Madison Keys of Rock Island, IL are each in the final four of the 2022 Australian Open. Collins reached the women’s semifinal by beating Alize Cornet of France 7-5, 6-1 in the quarterfinals, while Keys reached the women’s semifinal by beating reigning French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-2.

After a very competitive first set, Collins dominated Cornet in the second set of her quarterfinal matchup on Wednesday. Colins won 88% of her first serve points, while Cornet only won 42% of her first serve points. Collins also had 12 second set winners, compared to only three for Cornet.

Keys meanwhile is returning to tennis in 2022 after battling coronavirus in 2021. In her quarterfinal match versus Krejcikova, Keys’s serve worked particularly well. She had 11 aces, compared to only two for Krejcikova. Keys also had 27 winners compared to only 12 for Krejcikova, and won the unforced errors category, as she only had 21 unforced errors compared to 28 for Krejcikova.

Keys will now face Ashleigh Barty of Australia in one semifinal match on Thursday. Head-to-head, Barty has the 2-1 advantage, with one win each coming at Roland Garros for the French Open. Keys won in the first round in 2017, 6-3, 6-2, while Barty won in the quarterfinals in 2019, 6-3, 7-5. The 2019 French Open was Barty’s first career grand slam title. This is Keys’s fifth career grand slam semifinal, while this is the fourth career semifinal for Barty.

Collins will now face the 2020 French Open champion, Iga Swiatek of Poland. Head-to-head, Swiatek beat Collins in the quarterfinals of the 2021 Adelaide International, which was a tuneup for the 2020 Australian Open, 6-2, 3-0. Collins meanwhile had to pull out because of a lower back injury according to tennis.com. Collins previously qualified for the 2019 Australian Open semifinal, where she lost to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 7-6, 6-0. This will be the second career grand slam semifinal for Swiatek.