World Number one tennis player, Ashleigh Barty, suffered an unfortunate three-set loss at the Australian Open 2021. Though she was one of the favorites to win the event, Karolina Muchova had overpowered her in Melbourne.

Right after the shocking defeat in the Victorian city, Barty signed up to defend her crown at Adelaide International. But, with miseries compounding the Australian ace, Ash Barty lost to Danielle Collins in her opening match, 6-3, 6-4.

After the back-to-back losses in her home-country, Ashleigh Barty has withdrawn from WTA 500 Doha that starts on March 1, 2021. Her withdrawal has emerged due to a hapless left leg injury. Furthermore, she is planning to withdraw from the WTA 500 Dubai as well.

Despite her withdrawals, Barty is set to defend her title at the Miami Open 2021, which will begin on March 23.

Barty had a successful start to the season by playing an exhibition match against Simona Halep. Subsequently, she won the title in one of the lead-up events of the Happy Slam by defeating Garbine Muguruza in the finals.

Danielle Collins on defeating Ashleigh Barty at Adelaide International 2021

On Wednesday, with the victory over defending champion and top-seed Barty, Collins recorded her maiden win over a reigning World Number one.

“I think I was really familiar with her game after losing to her three times,” said Collins. “So I certainly got some great tennis lessons out of that and have learned from it.”

“My physical fitness is one of the things that has improved a lot, because we had such a long period of being able to train consistently for weeks and weeks and months and months.”

Up next, Collins will face the reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek at Adelaide International 2021. Can she continue her fairytale run?