These days, Danielle Collins is almost invincible. even if she is about to announce her retirement.

The American, ranked fifteenth, defeated Victoria Azarenka, the former world number one, 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Italian Open and improve her record to 19-1 since early March.

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She hasn’t lost a set on Rome’s red clay, having just won back-to-back titles in Miami and Charleston, South Carolina.

Collins intends to retire at the end of the year after undergoing surgery in 2021 to cure endometriosis. Collins has stated that she wants to have a kid.

Collins stated, “A lot of it has to do with my health.” “Everybody has different ways of ending their professional journey. I want to go out playing my best tennis.”

Collins’ aggressive baseline play annoyed Azarenka, and at one point she even confronted a TV cameraman, telling him, “Hey dude, you’re going to have to back up a little bit,” after being approached during a changeover.

Azarenka’s unforced errors mounted late in the second set, and she slammed her racket on the Campo Centrale. Collins then wasted several break points and crushed her racket as well. However, Collins used some crucial serving to put an end to Azarenka; ultimately, Collins finished with six aces to Azarenka’s zero.

Collins remarked, “I feel dialed in with my shots and I’ve gotten better at hitting those small parts of the court,”

Aryna Sabalenka, Collins’ semifinal opponent, defeated 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4, displaying no signs of weariness from her previous marathon encounter.

The American’s first setback since losing to top-ranked Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells on March 8 came in Sabalenka’s victory against Collins in the Madrid Open’s fourth round.

The top three women have advanced to the Rome final four, with Swiatek facing No. 3 Coco Gauff in the other semifinal.

Collins remarked, “I feel dialed in with my shots and I’ve gotten better at hitting those small parts of the court,”

Aryna Sabalenka, Collins’ semifinal opponent, defeated 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko 6-2, 6-4, displaying no signs of weariness from her previous marathon encounter.

The American’s first setback since losing to top-ranked Iga Swiatek at Indian Wells on March 8 came in Sabalenka’s victory against Collins in the Madrid Open’s fourth round.

The top three women have advanced to the Rome final four, with Swiatek facing No. 3 Coco Gauff in the other semifinal.

In the men’s competition, Zhang Zhizhen was defeated 6-3, 6-4 by 29th-seeded Alejandro Tabilo of Chile, continuing his unexpected run.

Alejandro Tabilo, ranked 29th in the men’s draw, continued his incredible run of form by defeating Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-4. In the two previous rounds, Tabilo had upset winners Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov.

On his opening match point, Tabilo—who hasn’t lost a set in his debut in Rome—served an ace down the T.

Tabilo will take on 2017 champion Alexander Zverev in his first Masters Series semifinal. Zverev defeated 11th-seeded Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-3.

Early in the match, Zverev lost his footing when returning a serve, fell to the clay, and cut his hands and arms. He seemed to have suffered the most damage to his left hand, but he was able to play on after getting medical attention. When he was hurt, he won the point.

“My finger is crooked. … It’s starting to be a bit blue,” Zverev mentioned that his left pinkie was beginning to turn blue, but he wasn’t sure if it was broken or not. “I felt pain, but, probably not to the extent that we’ll feel it tomorrow.”

Zverev is a right-handed player, but his backhand is two-handed.

Thursday is the day for the remaining quarterfinal games. Hubert Hurkacz portrays Tommy Paul, while Stefanos Tsitsipas takes on Nicolas Jarry, another Chilean.

Collins claimed to be playing the best tennis of her career, having advanced to the Australian Open final in 2022.

Collins remarked, “It’s been nice to have a stretch where I’ve really been kind of climbing, because, it’s not always like that,” “You have to be really happy for yourself in these moments because it doesn’t always work out that way.”

During Monday’s three-setter against Elina Svitolina, which concluded well past midnight local time, Sabalenka showed no signs of the back issue that needed to be treated. Sabalenka also denied the ninth-seeded Ostapenko a break opportunity.

The 26-year-old Sabalenka claimed that she spent Tuesday concentrating on her recuperation and therapy rather than even practicing. And it obviously paid off.

Sabalenka declared, “I would definitely say that it was the best performance of the tournament,” “I’m super happy that I was able to play without pain today and hopefully with every day I will feel better and better, and I will recover as good as I can for the next match.”

Before the French Open begins in 11 days, Rome serves as the final major preliminarily competition on clay.