Many top WTA Tour stars are currently playing in the Abu Dhabi Open 2024. On Thursday morning ET, it will be Elena Rybakina vs Danielle Collins in the Round of 16. The match will take place on the hard courts of the Zayed City International Tennis Centre not before 5 PM local time on Thursday (8 AM ET).
After Rybakina’s early exit from the Australian Open 2024, the Russian-born Kazakhstani player will look to make a mark in this tournament. She also slipped in WTA rankings from 3 to 5 after losing to Anna Blinkova in the final set of her match. It also became the longest tie-breaker in the AO 2024.
Danielle Collins, conversely, had announced her retirement from professional tennis by the end of the 2024 season after her loss to World No. 1 Iga Swiatek. She lost to the Polish player 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 and shocked everyone with her announcement. With nothing to lose now, Collins could well be a huge threat in this competition.
Rybakina is the top-seeded player in the Abu Dhabi Open (Seed no.1), followed by Ons Jabeur, Maria Sakkari, and Barbora Krejcikova respectively. All of them i.e. the top 4 seeds will receive a ‘Bye’ to the second round. Whereas, Collins, who is not in the top 9 seeds, defeated Naomi Osaka 7-5, 6-0 to reach the second round. Even though this was Osaka’s return from break due to pregnancy, Collins sealing the match with a bagel was still quite a shock to many fans on social media.
The Sports Rush predicts Rybakina to win the much-awaited Elena Rybakina vs Danielle Collins contest in 3 sets. Pokerstars has placed the odds in Rybakina’s favor at 1.29 vis-a-vis 3.10 for Collins. However, upsets do happen in tennis, especially given that Rybakina herself lost to a much lower-ranked Blinkova at the AO 2024. Therefore, Collins could take some confidence and courage from that.
The weather in Abu Dhabi on Thursday is expected to be partly sunny at 22 degrees celsius. The live streaming of the Elena Rybakina vs Danielle Collins match in the United States will be on Tennis Channel.
How has the Elena Rybakina vs Danielle Collins match-up been so far?
The Elena Rybakina vs Danielle Collins contest has taken place three times to date. Rybakina won it two times whereas Collins won once. At the Adelaide International 1 in 2023, Rybakina beat Collins 5-7, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round of the tournament.
The same year Rybakina beat Collins again at the Australian Open in the third round by 6-2, 5-7, 6-2. It was a big deal since Collins came into the 2023 AO as a defending runner-up.
The only time Collins emerged victorious against Rybakina was also when the Kazakh player was fighting tooth and nail for a win. It was at the 2021 San Jose quarterfinals, where Collins won 7-6 (7-5), 7-6 (7-4), with both the sets going to tie-breakers. Danielle Collins is world no. 71 and has to overcome astounding odds to beat Rybakina. But funny things happen in the game of tennis and there is a slight possibility she could stun Rybakina.
