Defending champion Iga Swiatek was bundled out of the Italian Open by American Danielle Collins, who beat the Polish world No. 2 6-1, 7-5 in the round of 32 on Saturday.
Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek went down 5-0 in the opening set before managing to get on the board and avoid a bagel.
While the first set was all one-way traffic, the second was level at 4-4 before 2022 Australian Open runner-up Collins pulled away with the win in 1 hour, 44 minutes.
Swiatek, who held a commanding 7-1 head-to-head record against Collins heading into the contest, has not won a tournament in almost a year.
“I played Iga so many times. The winning favor is in her favor,” Collins said. “When you play that many close matches and play some of your best tennis but lose, you learn a lot. I feel like I applied that today.”
