Australian Open 2025 LIVE updates: Cruz Hewitt’s maiden AO win ends with ‘hang up the phone’ celebration

Is it as simple as Danielle Collins versus Australia?

The veteran American was thrust into the character of pantomime villain thanks to her antics in her three-set defeat of qualifier Destanee Aiava, who hails from Melbourne, on the boutique Kia Arena court on Thursday night.

American Danielle Collins after defeating local hope Destanee Aiava. Credit: AP

In dramatic scenes, Collins celebrated her three-set victory and reacting to crowd taunts by cupping her ear to the pro-Aiava crowd and repeatedly saying, “How about that?” before playfully kissing her hand then slapping her backside as she walked to her chair.

That followed her telling fans to “shut up” in the opening game of the second set after they yelled out between her first and second serves.

The Kia Arena crowd showered Collins with boos – stopping only to cheer Aiava as she walked from the court – prompting Collins to grab the microphone in her post-match interview and continue to mock the crowd.

What’s absolutely worth remembering is that Collins was the player on the other side of the net three years ago when Australia’s world No.1 Ash Barty famously ended the country’s long Australian Open singles drought.

Barty wore down Collins in a two-set battle.

Ash Barty at the 2022 Australian Open. Credit: Eddie Jim

Fascinatingly, Barty had a fleeting reference to Collins in her autobiography My Dream Time, in which the champion three-time major winner labelled her relationship with Collins as “rocky” and described previous matches against the American as “ugly” and “tiring”.

An excerpt from the book recalling the time when Barty was preparing for the final reads: “Who I’ll be playing against is decided the next day. Iga Swiatek is playing Danielle Collins, and for me the equation is simple. I love Iga, and I have a rocky relationship with Danielle. I want to play Iga. I want to share it with her. But Danielle wins, and I think back to the matches we’ve had in the past and how they were never fun. I never walk off court after playing Danielle thinking, That was good tennis. Each match has been an ugly, tiring scrap.”

There are few other references to other players on the WTA Tour in Barty’s book.

Tonight at Melbourne Park, Collins plays her third-round match against friend Madison Keys.

You really should tune in.

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