Connect with us

Uncategorized

A shocker: Danielle Collins tops her idol, Venus Williams, in Miami

Published

on

Danielle Collins’ favorite player, for as long as she can remember, has been Venus Williams.

Clearly, she wasn’t star-struck when facing her idol.

Collins got the biggest win of her pro career Wednesday night, shocking the eighth-seeded Williams 6-2, 6-3 in the Miami Open quarterfinals. Collins needed to survive two qualifying matches before making the main draw at Key Biscayne, and will now meet sixth-seeded Jelena Ostapenko in Thursday’s semifinals.

Collins topped U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys earlier this month at Indian Wells and made a much bigger statement with this win. She threw both fists into the air when Williams couldn’t handle a serve on Collins’ second match point, and even the three-time champion at Key Biscayne gave her a big smile when they shook hands at the net.

“I’m just starting to finally put all of the pieces together,” said Collins, the 2014 and 2016 NCAA champion at Virginia.

Collins, No. 93 in the world for a few more days, will more than double her career earnings when the money from Miami arrives. She came to Key Biscayne with $305,385 in career earnings, which she’ll add at least $327,965 to now that she’s in the semifinals. And she’s going to soar in the world rankings, to no lower than 67th.

No qualifier has ever gone this deep at Key Biscayne, though Collins looked perfectly comfortable on the stage. She rarely faced trouble, offered confident fist pumps for much of the night and set the tone by breaking Williams — one of her idols, someone who’s been playing pro matches for about as long as the 24-year-old Collins has been alive — with her opening chance in each set.

And now Collins, who took the more-unusual path through college to pro life, still has a shot at becoming perhaps Miami’s most surprising champion.

“You don’t have to do it the traditional way,” Williams said.

For as easy as Collins made it look Wednesday night, John Isner had an even easier time in his quarterfinal.

The big-serving Isner made the Miami semifinals for the second time in four years, needing just over an hour to overpower South Korea’s Hyeon Chung 6-1, 6-4. The 14th-seeded Isner finished with 13 aces, won all but one of his 32 first-serve points and avenged a loss to the 19th-seeded Chung at Auckland in his first match of the year back in January.

Isner was broken twice by Chung when they met in Auckland. He faced only one break point on Wednesday.

“It’s perfect conditions,” said Isner, who lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2015 semifinals at Key Biscayne. “I’ve played well here in the past and I’m so happy that I’m playing well here again.”

He’ll hope that trend continues in the semifinals.

Isner — who ousted second-seeded Marin Cilic earlier this week — will next face No. 5 seed Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, who rallied to beat No. 20 Milos Raonic of Canada 5-7, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (3) in the late match Wednesday in a slugfest that lasted nearly three hours.

Ostapenko got her spot in the semifinals by ousting fourth-seeded Elina Svitolina 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) and now will get the upstart Collins with a berth in Saturday’s final at stake. The other women’s semifinal is Thursday afternoon, with No. 13 Sloane Stephens set to meet three-time Miami champion Victoria Azarenka.

Uncategorized

Jessica Wilde releases ‘Love Like This’ ft. Josh Barry

Published

on

Highly acclaimed and much-loved singer, songwriter, rapper, producer and South London native Jessica Wilde kicks of her 2024 by joining forces with the incredible Josh Barry for a soulful Valentine’s Day release ‘Love Like This’, out 14th February.

Packed with soaring emotions and infused with smoky orchestral atmospheres, ‘Love Like This’ is a striking nu-soul gem which will be released on Wilde’s forthcoming album and follows her recent singles ‘Freak Out’ and ‘Feathers’ ft. Zoe Kypri. The two 2023 singles saw her pick up many spins on BBC Radio 1’s Future Artists with Jack Saunders, BBC Radio 1 Introducing with Jess Iszatt, John Kennedy’s X-Posure Daily on Radio X, playlist support across the board from Spotify, Apple, Youtube and Tidal amongst other acclaim. Josh Barry has also been picking up serious heat, recently featuring with Rudimental and Sigma, collaborating with Nile Rogers and opening for Rag ‘N’ Bone Man on tour. Josh Barry brings a dynamic force to the collab as he embodies the spirit of legendary icons like James Brown and Jimi Hendrix.

On ‘Love Like This’, Wilde explains, When we got in the studio, the song basically wrote itself, we wanted to capture that raw soulful essence in our husky tones, and a nostalgic feeling of those classic Marvin Gaye love songs but with a 2024 flip.”

As the dreamy, smooth track escalates, Wilde and Barry’s yearning vocals entwine with epic effect as the pair find the ‘Love Like This’ that they have been searching and waiting for. The release comes with a Valentine’s launch show at the iconic ‘The Bedford’ and a 6-part Instagram & TikTok reel series, released every other day from 16th February, which everyone should tune into to see Wilde and Barry explore the track’s steamy and romantic themes in more depth through nostalgic aesthetics.

2024 looks set to be an exciting new year for Wilde. With her album on the horizon, she has been gaining growing support from not only BBC Radio 1 but also 6 Music, BBC Radio London, KISS, editorial playlist support across DSPs, as well as features in CLASH, Complex, Wonderland, The Independent and many more.

Continue Reading

Trending