Top seed Ash Barty to face Danielle Collins in Australian Open final

It all comes down to 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 😤

🇦🇺 Barty vs. Collins 🇺🇸

Taking home the #AO2022 title will be _____! pic.twitter.com/sKGgXIknQn

— wta (@WTA) January 27, 2022

Yesterday's semifinals proved my prediction of a few days ago (that thrilling early rounds often mean dull later rounds) correct--at least, so far. I do hope that my "success" in predicting doesn't extend to the final. But in the semifinals, both matches were completed quickly. T

Top seed Ash Barty needed just over an hour to defeat Madison Keys--who had put on a brilliant run--6-1, 6-3. And Danielle Collins needed under and hour and 20 minutes to dispatch of Iga Swiatek, whose serve has let her down throughout this tournament. Swiatek had gotten herself out of trouble in previous matches with a combination of guile and persistence, but that didn't work against the relentless Collins.

Barty has won the French Open and Wimbledon, and there's no doubt that she would love to win the major in her home country (or, as British and Australian male commentators love to tell us--all the time--she's "desperate" to win the title). Collins reached the semifinals in 2019, before her life was interrupted by illness and surgery. But she's back strong this year, dictating play and bossing opponents around. Of course, Ash Barty isn't that easy to boss. She has yet to drop a set, and she's been broken only once.

Here are the opponents' paths to the final:

ASH BARTY(1)
round 1--def. Lesia Tsurenko
round 2--def. Lucia Bronzetti
round 3--def. Camila Giorgi (30)
round of 16--def. Amanda Anisimova
quarterfinals--def. Jessie Pegula (21)
semifinals--def. Madison Keys

DANIELLE COLLINS (27)
round 1--def. Caroline Dolehide
round 2--def. Ana Konjuh
round 3--def. Clara Tauson
round of 16--def. Elise Mertens (19)
quarterfinals--def. Alize Cornet
semifinals--def. Iga Swiatek (7)

Meanwhile, we have our doubles finalists. Top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova defeated 3rd seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens to advance to the final. Their opponents will be Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia, who upset 2nd seeds Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara.