CNN
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American Daniel Collins has won in three of the last four years as he disrupts the world’s second Igawi Tek, which recently dominated the Italian Open, and is almost invincible in clay.
No. 29 seed Collins ultimately endured a poor serving display and cruised to a comprehensive 6-1, 7-5 victory over świątek, which broke five times in a row during the match.
After the loss, świątek loses the world’s second-largest ranking and ends an astonishing run of over three years that took over one of the top two spots in the world.
For Collins, the result marks her second victory in nine meetings, meaning she will advance to the fourth round, meaning she will face Elina Svitolina.
“After losing many times to IGA, you can clearly learn from those experiences, those matches,” she said afterwards, according to the WTA. “The last few times we played she beat me, but I played some of my best tennis in those matches.
“So it gave me confidence.”
Elsewhere, Janik Thinner enjoyed his victory return to tennis on Saturday after serving a three-month ban on doping.
The Italian has the number one in the world despite forced absence from sports, and he lives in that mantle, overcoming the impressive 6-3, 6-4 Navaughn in Rome.
But it was the response from the crowd of his house that gave him a standing ovation “which means far more than any outcome,” he told reporters.
One fan lifted a sign that he read “Bentornato Jannik (Welcome Back Jannik).”
Thinner had been playing in his first game since returning from a three-month ban, where he tested twice for anabolic steroid, a substance crosstebol, which was banned last March.
The three-time Grand Slam champion was previously spared from the ban when the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) decided it was not due to positive tests and accepted that the contamination was caused by the application of commercial sprays.
However, the World Anti-Doping Organization (WADA) later filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) and accepted the suspension from February 9th to May 4th.
The saga around the sinners has highlighted tennis’s current anti-doping protocols, raising concerns about the possibility of top stars’ priority treatment.
When he returned from that ban, Thinner won 22 consecutive tours in time for the French Open, which begins later this month, picked up where he left off after winning the Australian Open in January.
“I’m happy with today’s victory He later said in an on-court interview. “He’s a really great player, especially on this surface, and I tried to move around the ball.
“Sometimes, it worked very well, and maybe it would be better if it did, but yes, but anyway, it was an amazing day for me, so I’m very happy.”
He took the first set relatively easily, producing 11 winners, sometimes forcing Navone off the court as a typical hard hit. The second set seemed to unfold in a similar way that the sinners broke Navone early on again, but Argentina fought back and broke the number one in the world when they took a forehand that entered the net.
Thinner will play Jesper de Jong in the third round of Monday’s tournament.
