Danielle Collins ends year of pain by reaching Australian Open quarter-final

• American defeated Elise Mertens 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours
• Collins underwent emergency surgery to treat endometriosis

Nearly a year ago, in the heat of the Australian summer, Danielle Collins was reduced to a level of pain that she would not wish on another soul. By the third set of her match against Daria Kasatkina in the Phillip Island Trophy, an event held at Melbourne Park during the second week of the Australian Open, she fell to the ground while severely cramping in her abdominal muscles and pelvis.

Through her tears, Collins resorted to hitting underarm serves and throwing up desperate moonballs as she fell 6-1 in the final set. A week later, she withdrew from a tournament in Adelaide with acute back pain which MRI scans failed to identify the cause of.