Danielle Collins defeats Elise Mertens to become third American woman in Australian Open quarterfinals

Play.

Danielle Collins is going to the Australian Open quarterfinals.

Danielle Collins won her match against Mertens and advanced to the Australian Open quarterfinals. (0:38)

10:30 PM

Danielle Collins came back from a set and a break down to beat No. 19-seeded Elise Mertens in the Australian Open fourth round.

Collins is one of two Americans in the final eight. The Americans who will play their matches on Tuesday are Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys. Three Americans are in the quarterfinals for the second year in a row.

It was the first time that Collins had won back-to-back matches at a Grand Slam.

The American dropped the first set in her third-round win. Collins has won seven major matches when losing the first set. That is tied with Kaia Kanepi for most of the other women.

Her best run at a major was at the Australian Open, where she was a semifinalist.

Collins will return to the last four if he beats Alize Cornet in the next round.

Collins said that it was physically tough for him. I played a long match the other day and then I played doubles for five hours.

I had to make a lot of technical changes to be more comfortable serving.

Collins was aggressive with her ground strokes, hitting 45 winners and making 41 errors. She converted five of her 18 break-point chances and won the match when Mertens double-faulted.

After 63 main-draw appearances, the Frenchwoman advanced to her first Grand Slam quarterfinals with a win over Simona Halep.

After leading by a set and 3-1, Cornet lost five consecutive games and 16 straight points to send the match to a decider. Halep saved two match points on her serve in the ninth game, but it wasn't enough for her to win the match. She dropped to her knees and clasped her hands together as she looked up at her support team.

In their head-to-head meetings, Cornet had a 3-1 lead and improved on that record in the fourth-round.

At the 2005 French Open, she made her Grand Slam singles debut. She is the first French woman to make the Australian Open quarterfinals. The French Open and Wimbledon were won by Halep. She lost to Wozniacki in the Australian Open final.

Information from The Associated Press was used.