Advantage Kasatkina or Collins? The case for the Charleston finalists

CHARLESTON, S.C. — There’s a lot to like about this charismatic southern city. The restaurants are top notch, there’s Rainbow Row on quaint East Bay Street, historic Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor and City Market.

Daria Kasatkina is here for all of that — but she keeps coming back for the tennis. This is her fifth appearance at the Credit One Charleston Open, and her record on the green clay is a spectacular 18-3. She was still a teenager when she won her first Hologic WTA Tour title here in 2017. 

“Everything around makes Charleston a special place,” Kasatkina said Friday, “and I really enjoy being here. Maybe because unconsciously, I want to stay here longer, that’s why I’m playing good here.”

On Sunday (2:30 p.m. ET), Kasatkina has the opportunity to hoist the winner’s trophy for a second time after defeating top-seeded Jessica Pegula 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (5) on Saturday.

The No.4 seed will be supremely challenged by unseeded Danielle Collins, who was a 6-3, 6-3 winner over No.3 Maria Sakkari.

Collins has won 12 straight matches — equaling the best run of her career, when she glided through Palermo, San Jose and part of Montreal three years ago. Coming off the title at the Miami Open, this will be Collins’ 13^th match in 19 days — and her fifth in the past four.

“This is what I do,” Collins said in a Tennis Channel interview. “Gotta bring the fire.”

Which player will recover best? Who will summon the energy necessary to close it out? We investigate:

The case for Collins

How do you win the biggest tournament of your life, then recalibrate — on an entirely different surface — and blow right through the next stacked draw all over again? 

Collins was ranked No.71 the first week of February and No.53 heading into Miami. With one more win here, she’ll be No.15 when the rankings turn over Monday. She’s posted 21 victories already this year — a total surpassed only by No.1 Iga Swiatek and No.4 Elena Rybakina (22).

In January, Collins, 30, announced her intention to retire at the end of the season and the emerging narrative is that the decision has allowed her to play some of the best tennis of her life.

She’s isn’t so sure.

“It’s kind of like a vague thing or assumption to kind of make,” Collins said, “because it’s easy to say, `Oh, well, she’s retiring at the end of the year, so she must be playing so freely.’ But the reality is that I’ve made improvements each match, and a lot of those improvements have been technical, tactical. 

“Athletically, there are things that I’ve improved, not tremendously, but little by little. And I think it’s important to highlight those things.”

Perhaps the best case for Collins was made by…