Danielle Collins and Shelby Rogers will clash on Tuesday, August 3, in the opening round of WTA San Jose 2021. It will mark the first meeting of their careers and Rogers’ first match since the 2021 Wimbledon, where she crashed out from the 1/16 finals against Elena Rybakina.
Danielle Collins vs Shelby Rogers
When: Tuesday, August 3 – 20:30 PDT
Where: San Jose State University in San Jose, California, US
Weather: Clear, 20°C
Danielle Collins and Shelby Rogers meet in the first round of the 2021 WTA San Jose, a tournament also known as the Silicon Valley Classic. The two have never met before, but they both have plenty of experience playing against high-ranked players. Speaking of rankings, Collins is currently in #36 in the WTA list, while her opponent is #43.
No Lost Set for Collins in Five Previous Matches
It’s been a tough year for Danielle Collins both on and off the court. She had to spend two months away from the tour after undergoing surgery. Doctors removed “a cyst the size of a tennis ball” from her ovary in March, after which she had to spend a couple of weeks recovering.
Collins made her comeback to the world of tennis in May. Her first tournament after the pause was the French Open, where she has done reasonably well. She won her first two matches against Xiyu Wang (2-1) and Anhelina Kalinina (2-0) but lost to Serena Williams (0-2) in the 1/16 finals.
Since then, she has attended few more tournaments and achieved mixed success. Collins didn’t do much at Wimbledon, nor in Hamburg and Budapest. However, she was absolutely brilliant at the 2021 WTA Palermo.
In Italy, Collins won every match in straight sets and claimed the title seemingly effortlessly. However, it’s important to note that she played on clay; in San Jose, she will have to deliver on the hardcourts.
However, this shouldn’t bother Collins much as she seems to love playing on hard surfaces. Proof of this is that earlier this year, she reached the quarter-final in Melbourne and Round 4 at the 2021 Australian Open.
This year, we also saw her win against the current no.1 Ashleigh Barty (2-0) during the 2021 WTA Adelaide – another hardcourt tournament. Furthermore, in 2020, she won against a few other heavyweights, including Sofia Kenin and Belinda Bencic.
Not the Best Year in Rogers’ Career
Even though she managed to reach round four at the 2021 Australian Open, that remains Shelby Rogers’ greatest achievement at a Grand Slam tournament – besides that, she hasn’t done much on the year. Rogers lost more matches than she probably expected and has yet to win a single trophy.
In fact, her 2021 record is 18-14. The good news for her is that only five of those defeats happened on the hardcourt, where she won 10 matches. The bad news is that she’s not known as someone who usually does very well on the hardcourts.
Rogers has played in only two WTA finals in her career – the 2014 Gastein Ladies and 2016 Rio Open – both of which were played on clay.
She lost both finals, which isn’t great; however, she has a couple of ITF trophies in her cupboard, the most recent of which she won in 2020. The one in question is the Dow Tennis Classic, a hardcourt tournament.
Danielle Collins vs Shelby Rogers Betting Picks
Danielle Collins is a much better player than Shelby Rogers, even though their current WTA Rankings don’t exactly show it. However, Collins has been showing a great form of late and should be hungry to deliver in San Jose as she chases another title.
Prediction: Danielle Collins to win – 1.74 at Pinnacle
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