Danielle Collins never won a WTA 1000 event in her career until the 2024 Miami Open, when she bested Elena Rybakina in the final.
Rybakina is a tremendous tennis player who plays really well in Miami until she gets to the final. When she gets to the final, she seemingly loses her magic and loses the match. It happened last year when she cruised to the final but then failed in the final against Petra Kvitova.
This year didn't offer anything different because Collins proved once again better than Rybakina; the difference is that the Kazakhstani player didn't quite cruise to the final. She had a lot of struggles even though she won some amazing matches, like the one against Victoria Azarenka in the previous round.
This one started well for both because neither really had too much trouble keeping their serve even though we saw break points on both sides. The crucial game, in many ways, happened at 3-3 when she saved a couple of break points to keep herself in the lead 4-3.
If she had lost her serve, Rybakina would have likely won the opening set. Collins saved another break point at 5-5 to make it 6-5 and then delivered the killing blow in the next game. She got a couple of break points and converted one to win the opening set 7-5.
It was a pretty close and competitive match, but ultimately, Collins played the crucial rallies better. She saved all 5 break points and some of those were pretty clutch. The second set opened with an early break for the American, but Rybakina would pull it back immediately.
Eventually, Collins fought off a few other breakpoints and broke her opponent again for the 6-3 finish. This was just an amazing performance from Collins, who saved 8 of 9 break points in the match. That's why she won the match; she was just better when it mattered the most.