Florida-based Danielle Collins wins Miami Open

Born in St. Petersburg, Florida, 30 year-old Danielle Collins has fought her way to the Miami Open women's singles title. Collins captured the biggest title of her career beating No. 4 seed, Elena Rybakina, 7-5 6-3 in the final yesterday. This is her third WTA title and she is only the second unseeded woman to win the Miami Open. 

After the big win, Collins said, “What a dream come true to have played at the level that I have played consistently over the last two weeks. This has been such a journey for me. 30 years old, you know, this was the finals of my first 1000, and it's been a different journey than I think a lot of the stories that we're familiar with."

Photo credit: Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium.  

"It's just been amazing to go out today and to have felt the energy that I felt from the fans and literally feel like I'm playing in front of thousands of my best friends, that was just surreal. I will never forget this day because of that. Everywhere I looked, people were, like, Let's go, Danielle. You can do this. The encouragement I got, it was hard for me to hide the emotion. I think these are the moments that we live for and don't always get to have them. It was just really special,” she explained.

In the other final yesterday, India’s Rohan Bopanna and Australia’s Matthew Ebden clinched the 2024 Miami Open men’s doubles title after defeating Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and American Austin Krajicek, 6-7(3) 6-3 10-6 in 1 hour and 41 minutes. Bopanna, 44 years-old, made history as the oldest ATP Masters 1000 champion with the Miami Open win.

Photo credit: Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium.  

Today's action kicks off at 12:30 in the afternoon with Sofia Kenin & Bethanie Mattek-Sands vs. Gabriela Dabrowski & Erin Routliffe for the women's doubles title. Then, not before 3:00, Jannik Sinner faces off with Grigor Dimitrov for the men's singles final. 

Today will mark the third Sinner vs. Dimitrov showdown. In 2020, they met in Rome, with Dimitrov emerging victorious (4-6, 6-4, 6-4). They had two encounters last year, once here in Miami where Sinner prevailed (6-3, 6-4), and more recently in Beijing where Sinner won in a thrilling three-set battle (6-4, 3-6, 6-2).

Check out more behind-the-scenes scoops at the Miami Open, including highlights and quotes from top players during their Miami Open press conferences, courtesy of Florida Tennis contributor Adam Ross — visit our Florida Tennis Facebook page. 

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Written by Florida Tennis' Editor and Publisher Matt Pressman. Source: Miami Open presented by Itaú. Top photo credit: Miami Open/Hard Rock Stadium.