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Linz starter Danielle Collins with a furious run to the final at the Australian Open

Congratulations to Danielle Collins for reaching the final of the Australian Open! The 28-year-old US-American, who reached the semi-finals at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz three months ago, showed a furious tournament performance in Melbourne. She only lost to the Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty 3:6, 6:7 (2:7) in the final. She even led 5:1 in the second set.

Known for her strength of will on and off the court, Collins has had a difficult year in 2021. The reason was an endometriosis disease, which she talks about very openly. Last April, a cyst the size of a tennis ball was removed from her ovaries, along with other tissue from her bladder and intestines.

"I am very moved by Danielle's story and I am very happy for her success in Australia. She is an incredibly strong personality," said tournament director Sandra Reichel from Linz. For her first appearance in the final of a Grand Slam tournament, Collins, who is nicknamed "Danimal" because of her fighting spirit, received 1.575 million Australian dollars (about 990,000 euros) in prize money. In addition, the woman from Florida will be ranked in the top ten of the world rankings for the first time in her career as of this Monday. During the tournament, she had celebrated victories over Iga Swiatek (Poland), Alizé Cornet (France) and Elise Mertens (Belgium), among others.

In Upper Austria last November, Collins had to retire after the first set (5:7) due to a shoulder injury against the eventual tournament winner Alison Riske (USA) in the preliminary round. During the tournament week in Linz, she had taken part in a special "flour photo shoot" of our sponsor Backaldrin in the "Wunderkammer des Brotes" together with Simona Halep, among others. You can see the pictures on our Instagram account see.