By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday October 3, 2020

The women’s singles draw was cracked open a bit more on Saturday in Paris, as Danielle Collins closed Day 7 at Roland Garros by toppling 2016 champion Garbiñe Muguruza in three tight sets, 7-5, 2-6 6-4 in two hours and 26 minutes.



Collins, ranked 57, had never been past the second round of Roland Garros.

The American rounds out a round of 16 that features three former Grand Slam champions—Simona Halep, Sofia Kenin and Petra Kvitova—but remains very wide open from top to bottom.

It was a stellar performance from Collins and a disappointing one for Muguruza, who had chances to close out the pesky American in the third set but couldn’t convert two points that would have given her a 4-0 lead while serving in the final set.

A few games later Muguruza lead 4-2 and had a pair of break points for 5-2, which would have all but sealed the match, but Collins saved those as well.

“I just told myself, Okay, I've got to ride out the storm a little bit,” Collins said. “Just give it all I have. Just stick through the process. It was really challenging at times because of how well she was playing, particularly how well she was serving. Some of the shots she was coming up with sometimes were just too good. I had to accept that and move on and just try to stay as positive as I could.”

Collins was thrilled to defeat a French Open legend. Muguruza has always been a tough out at Roland Garros. The Spaniard entered the match with a 29-6 lifetime record in Paris.

“I'm feeling really accomplished,” Collins said. “It was one of the bigger wins in my career. She's an incredible champion, one of the best clay-courters on tour. So I'm just really excited that I was able to beat a player like her and now move forward into the tournament. I haven't made second week of a slam in a while, and it's been one of my goals this year. Yeah, I'm just feeling really grateful.”