DANIELLE Collins is well on her way to her first ever WTA Tour title, with the world number 44 the overwhelming favourite in Palermo after another muscle-flexing win. The top seeded American rolled past seventh seed Australian Astra Sharma in straight sets, 6-1 6-4 to move into the final four of the tournament.

The top seed served five aces to zero against the Australian and won 71.4 and 58.3 per cent of her first and second serve points, compared to Sharma who collected 58.8 per cent of her first serve points and a poor 21.1 per cent of her second serve points. That proved to be the difference as Collins broke five times to two, coming from 3-4 down in the second set to win in one hour and 12 minutes.

Now Collins will take on fourth seed Zhang Shuai who fought back from a set down against Serbian Olga Danilovic to win 4-6 6-4 7-6 in that quarter final. Meanwhile Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin continued her good recent form with a three-set win over Jaqueline Cristian, 6-7 6-3 6-4 to also reach the semi-finals. There, she will take on Elena-Gabriela Ruse who knocked off Italian wildcard Lucia Bronzetti in straight sets, 6-4 7-5.

Strangely enough, the highly rated Collins is the only one remaining without a WTA Tour title, with Zhang (two), Dodin (one) and Ruse (one) all having claimed past titles.

Meanwhile in Poland, three of the four quarter finals were completed over night, with rain suspending the late match a set and a half into the contest. In what might have been a challenge for the umpire addressing players considering their similar first names, Poland’s Katazyna Kawa held an advantage of Ukrain’s Kateryna Kozlova 7-5 3-3 for the right to move through to the semi-finals. The winner of that clash will face off against Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska.

The world number 165 took care of the final seed, ninth seeded Spaniard Nuria Parrizas Diaz in straight sets, 6-3 6-2. The win was the quickest of the matches, lasting just one hour and 17 minutes, while German Tamara Korpatsch knocked off Hungarian Anna Bondar 7-5 6-3 in an hour and 52 minutes. By far the most epic contest was won by Slovakian Kristina Kucova.

The world number 150 advanced her chance of her first ever WTA Tour with an epic three-hour and 55-minute slog against Georgian Ekaterine Gorgodze. The triple tiebreaker treat saw neither player easily able to get advantage, a maximum 36 service games played and nine breaks for each player. Kucova broke nine times from 20 chances, and Gorgodze did it nine from 23, with the winner eventually claiming nine more points overall (154-145) in the come-from-behind 6-7 7-6 7-6 match needing nerves of steel closing it out.

PALERMO LADIES OPEN QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Danielle Collins (USA) defeated [7] Astra Sharma (AUS) 6-1 6-4
[4] Shuai Zhang (CHN) defeated Olga Danilovic (SRB) 4-6 6-4 7-6
[6] Oceane Dodin (FRA) defeated Jaqueline Cristian (ROU) 6-7 6-3 6-4
[Q] Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU) defeated [WC] Lucia Bronzetti (ITA) 6-4 7-5

POLAND OPEN QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

Maryna Zanevska (BEL) defeated [9] Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP) 6-3 6-2
Kristina Kucova (SVK) defeated Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO) 6-7 7-6 7-6
Tamara Korpatsch (GER) defeated Anna Bondar (HUN) 7-5 6-3
Katazyna Kawa (POL) leads Kateryna Kozlova (UKR) 7-5 3-3 SUS

Picture credit: Sportskeeda