AO ’20 flashback: Matchy-matchy for Collins and Putintseva

–

Having not looked closely at the Madrid Open doubles draw when it came out, only today did we realize that the unlikely duo of … Danielle Collins and Yulia Putintseva are going to team up.

Collins hasn’t played much doubles on the WTA Tour – only a dozen times in all. And almost always with different partners.

So this one comes a bit out of the blue, even though the American has been out with injury for a bit, and must want to get a few extra reps on the red clay.

They play the all-Czech Karolina team of Muchova and Pliskova on Friday.

Flashback to the matchy-matchy

The very notion of these two teaming up brought us back to simpler times – before the pandemic. Because even though these two are playing together for the first time, they have met before.

Notably, in the second round of the 2020 Australian Open.

It was a late-night match, on a far court. But when you see those two names on the schedule, it’s something you cannot pass up if you’re on site.

And so it was – the court was smokin’ with intensity. With Mohamed Lahyani in the chair, of course.

The funniest part was that, at the time, both were wearing New Balance. And there’s a significant height difference between the two.

So to see them come out all matchy-matchy (and not just in feisty temperament) was just an extra added bonus.

They had met just a few weeks prior, in Brisbane. And Collins dished out a whoopin’ – 6-1, 6-0.

Putintseva, unseeded to Collins’s No. 26 seed, was having none of that on this day. She won 6-4, 2-6, 7-5.

An unsung epic.

They can’t be matchy-matchy Friday, because Collins no longer wears New Balance. Too bad!

About Post Author