Danielle Collins drops the first set but comes from behind to win the next two to advance to the semifinals. (0:31) MELBOURNE, Australia -- As the buzz around American giant slayer Danielle Collins has grown around Melbourne Park, so, too, has the support in her player's box. Tuesday afternoon, as Collins fought back from a one-set deficit to defeat Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 and lock in her first spot in a Grand Slam semifinal, Collins' cousin, Ana Chisholm, was updating family back home from her courtside seat. "I was trying not to look at my phone during the match," Chisholm said after watching Collins play the first match of her career on Rod Laver Arena. "But we have a big family text chain going. On breaks, they were all like, 'Let's finish this! Let's get it, Danielle!'" That Collins, 25, is a surprise semifinalist here in Melbourne -- she was 0-5 in Grand Slam matches before this tournament -- only partly accounts for her lack of familial support this fortnight. Of all the Slams, the Australian Open proves the greatest logistical puzzle for many athletes' families, even those who arrive expecting to play deep into the draw. "I don't think it's been a surprise to any of us that she's made it this far," Chisholm said. "Her parents know her talent and her drive to be the best. There's so much pride. We know how hard Danielle's fought. It's a matter of logistics with these faraway tournaments. But she has such a big, supportive family and I felt like somebody needed to be here to represent us all." Saturday night, after watching Collins win her fourth-round match over No. 2 Angelique Kerber in straight sets, Chisholm texted Collins and told her she was booking a flight to Australia. Sunday morning, she kissed her husband and four kids goodbye, drove from their home in Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to Minneapolis and hopped a flight to Melbourne. More than 24 hours later, she arrived at her hotel with just enough time to shower before meeting Collins at the players' lounge for lunch. "I had like five minutes to pack," Chisholm said. "It's winter at home and my shorts were all packed away. I didn't have time to get a ladder and pull them down." While Chisholm might be unprepared for an extended stay in the Southern Hemisphere, Collins has seemed completely at home the second week of a Slam, unfazed by the pressure of playing in the first Australian Open main draw of her career. A two-time NCAA champion at Virginia, Collins turned pro just two years ago, after graduating with a degree in media studies and a master's degree in business, and began steadily climbing the WTA rankings. Last season, she broke into the top 50 on the back of strong runs at Indian Wells and Miami and scored upsets against several top-20 players along the way. As her ranking rose, so did her confidence. At this tournament, Collins has played each of her matches with the mindset that she belongs on this stage. That she delayed her arrival to hone her game in college is simply part of her story, one she believes will eventually include Grand Slam wins. "I think I'm playing really good tennis," Collins said after her quarterfinal win. "I've gained more experience in the last year, which is great. I don't think much has changed. I'm just getting a little bit different outcome. That's based off of the hard work that's been put in and having faith in what I'm doing." Danielle Collins will jump to No. 23 in the WTA rankings by making the Australian Open semifinals and could be in the top 15 if she wins the title. Cameron Spencer/Getty Images Although Collins took an unusual path to this stage -- becoming only the second collegiate player in 23 years to make the semifinals at a major -- she believes her experiences have made her a stronger person, as well as a more well-rounded player. "I think not being a superstar at a young age certainly humbled me, made me work harder for things," Collins said. "I was talented and athletic, but maybe not to the level that other players were at, like, 14, 15, 16. Not being a child prodigy, I went a different route. I wasn't really sure if I could make it playing professional tennis when I was that age. Going to college was really crucial for me and my development. I think it's made me hungrier." That drive has been on full display in Melbourne. In her first five matches, Collins, who entered the tournament ranked No. 35 but is assured to jump into the top 25 after this week, defeated No. 123 Sachia Vickery, No. 44 Pavlyuchenkova, No. 19 Caroline Garcia, No. 14 Julia Goerges and Kerber to earn a slot in the semifinals. She next faces No. 8 Petra Kvitova, a player who is on a 10-match winning streak, hasn't dropped a set this tournament and is playing arguably her best tennis since winning her second Wimbledon title in 2014. "She's tricky because she's a lefty," Collins said of Kvitova, whom she played for the first time in Brisbane earlier this month. "She's an incredible champion. We had a great battle a couple weeks ago, one of the best matches I've played. And I didn't even win that match." Thursday, with Chisholm in her player's box manning the family text chain and a spot in the final on the line, Collins will attempt to even that score.<doc-sep>Photo : Darrian Traynor ( Getty ) This time last year, Danielle Collins was playing in Newport Beach, California. She was ranked No. 162 in the world and at a Challenger event, one tier of tennis competition below the WTA tour. Before arriving in Melbourne this year, Collins had not won a single match in the main draw of a major, with an 0-5 record in the first round. The 25-year-old American had never even played a main draw match at the Australian Open. Tomorrow, somehow, she’ll compete in its semifinal. Advertisement The path t here has been forbidding for the former collegiate singles champion at Virginia. Though she made strides in her 2018 season, Collins still came into this event unseeded. Through five matches, she has had to topple the No. 14, No. 19, and No. 2 seeds, and that last one, a fourth-round deletion of Angelique Kerber, was the real mind-scrambler. Kerber had easily swept Collins off grass 6-1, 6-1 last year in their only prior meeting. This match flipped that result. There are upsets, and then there are outright slaughters that make it entirely unclear what the power balance was in the first place. Watch Collins’s 6-0, 6-2 win without context, and it’s impossible to discern which woman had never won a match here and which woman had won the whole title in 2016. Collins ripped 29 winners and harassed Kerber’s relatively weak serve to win 57 percent of her points on return, an almost unbelievable figure even in victories. “From the very first point I showed her that I wasn’t going to let her into the match and that I was going to dictate the entire way through. And I stuck to my gameplan, and it clearly worked out well for me. Pretty much smooth sailing throughout the entire thing,” Collins said coolly afterwards. “I love making it kind of a war,” she said of her temperament on the court. Today’s 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has vaulted Collins into rarefied territory. No collegiate player on the women’s side has made a major semifinal since 1996; typically the ones bound for stardom skip that phase entirely and head straight for the pros. Collins has insisted that she was never the prodigy and wanted a degree to give herself more career options if the pro game never worked out. If this level is sustainable, that concern will evaporate: No matter her other results this week, Collins will enter the top 25 for the first time in her career. Despite never having made it out of the initial 128 at a major, she now finds herself in the final four. The next seed to test Collins—or test her own luck, it’s hard to tell at this point—will be No. 8 Petra Kvitova in the semifinal.<doc-sep>“She’s had to work on it, really, really, really hard,” Guilbeau said with a laugh in a phone conversation on Tuesday. “The emotion gets everybody, there’s no getting around it. The word I used with her a million times was professionalism . . . I always told her, picture yourself in the final of the U.S. Open. How would you want to emote and handle yourself in those situations? And look, she’s going to be more fiery than anyone you’ll see, but she’s really learned to not have the down moments take her off of her game.”<doc-sep>
Unheralded Danielle Collins marched into the Australian Open semi-finals on her tournament debut Tuesday, then revealed she never thought she had the talent to make it as a professional tennis player. The 25-year-old American is enjoying a dream run in her first appearance at the season-opening Grand Slam, making the final four with a 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. It was Collins’ toughest test yet at Melbourne Park but the Florida native said she was mentally tough after working her way up through the sport’s backblocks. MORE TENNIS NEWS PERFECT: BARTY’S CLASSY PRAISE FOR RIVAL AFTER ‘HELL OF A MONTH’ QUARTERS: BARTY’S DREAM AUS OPEN RUN ENDED BY DOMINANT KVITOVA ‘PLEASE SUBSCRIBE!’ TSITSIPAS FINDING SUCCESS ON COURT AND ON YOUTUBE “It’s a little bit new to me,” she said when asked how she was enjoying playing on the Grand Slam stage. “This time last year I was playing a challenger in Newport Beach. But, yeah, I’m really embracing it.” Collins, who has mostly played on the US college circuit, grabbed the tennis world’s attention with a 6-0, 6-2 drubbing of second seed Angelique Kerber in the fourth round. She was unable to repeat that sizzling form against Pavlyuchenkova but was pleased she worked out a way to come from behind and make her more experienced opponent wilt under pressure. “I knew that she was nervous. I knew that she was physically deteriorating,” said Collins, who will play two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in the last four. “I decided that I wanted to play some long points, extend some rallies. I went after my shots at the right time.” CINDERELLA STORY Collins had never won a match at a Grand Slam in five previous attempts before her Cinderella run at Melbourne Park. She has been a late bloomer in a sport notorious for putting talented youngsters under pressure from an early age, saying she was not a standout player as a teen and took “a different route” to the top. “I think not being a child prodigy, not being a superstar at a young age certainly humbled me, made me in a way work harder for things,” she said. “I was talented and athletic, but maybe not to the level that other players were at, like, 14, 15, 16. “I was kind of like playing from behind because I wasn’t a child prodigy, I went a different route. I wasn’t really sure if I could make it playing professional tennis when I was that age.” DAY 9 WRAP: TWO SHOCKS, TWO FANCIES INTO AUS OPEN SEMIS AS NADAL MAKES A STATEMENT FIT AND FIRING: PERFECT RAFA STRATEGY SETS HIM UP FOR ULTIMATE AUS OPEN SUCCESS Instead of going on the women’s tour, Collins graduated in media studies while playing tennis in the US college system, crediting it with making her a more mature person and keeping her humble. “It’s kind of made me hungrier in some ways,” she said. “Not having that, ‘Oh, I’ve always been really amazing at tennis’ (attitude). It wasn’t always like that for me. I wasn’t always great or good.” Collins was full of praise for Kvitova, who defeated her at a warm-up tournament in Brisbane earlier this month. “I followed a lot of her career. She’s an incredible champion, she’s has gone through a lot,” Collins said. “We had a really great battle a couple weeks ago, one of the best matches I’ve played even though I didn’t even win the match. So I’m very familiar with her.”