Danielle Collins concedes ‘admiration’ for Ash Barty after Australian Open final defeat

Danielle Collins admitted Ashleigh Barty was a worthy winner of the Australian Open after their final showdown in Melbourne.

The American was playing her first major final but fell just short against Barty, who reeled back a double-break deficit in the second set to seal the title on a tiebreak.

However, despite her obvious disappointment, Collins said she could not argue with either the result nor the winner of the first Grand Slam of the season.

“First I think I owe a big congratulations to Ash on a phenomenal two weeks and phenomenal couple of years,” Collins said after her 3-6, 6-7 defeat.

“I really admire you as the player you are, the variety in your game and hopefully I can implement some of that into mine.

“We wouldn’t be standing here without all of the awesome people behind this tournament, it is one of my favourite events to compete at and I am so grateful.

“It is a childhood dream of mine – I think this is most of the players’ favourite Grand Slams.”

Danielle Collins will make her debut in the world top ten next week as a result of her fine run in the Australian Open, which was her best Slam performance of her career.

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