Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber was knocked out of the Australian Open by world number 35 Danielle Collins in the biggest shock of the tournament.
The world number two was thrashed 6-0 6-2 in the fourth round in 56 minutes.
The German broke early in the second set but was immediately broken back and dropped serve a further two times.
“I better have many more of these. I just go out fearless, just give it my all,” said 25-year-old Collins, who is making her Australian Open debut.
She will play either American fifth seed Sloane Stephens or Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarter-finals.
Collins came into the match as a resounding underdog against the three-time Grand Slam champion but breezed through the opening set in just 20 minutes as one of the tournament’s favourites was stunned on Margaret Court Arena.
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The American hit 29 winners in the match and broke six times in total – winning almost 70% of the overall points.
World number two Kerber looked to begin a comeback at the start of the second but was immediately pegged back before Collins smashed a backhand to break the German’s serve again and take a 4-2 lead.
Collins needed just one match point to break again at the end and claim a ruthless victory.
“I may not have won a Grand Slam match before this but, I’ve got to tell you, I think it’s going to keep happening,” said Collins, who has not gone beyond the first round in any of her five previous Grand Slam appearances.
Collins’ biggest result to date was a quarter-final victory last March over seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams to become the first qualifier to reach the last four at the Miami Open.
She is relatively unknown on the WTA Tour after playing much of her tennis in the US college system.
Angelique Kerber, meanwhile, was among the favourites for the title and had dropped just 10 games in the previous three rounds.
BBC
