Danielle Collins left 'embarrassed' after celebrating too early in 10-point tie-break against Karolina Muchova

Updated 18/01/2023 at 16:16 GMT

Danielle Collins had a funny moment at the Australian Open as she celebrated thinking she had beaten Karolina Muchova in a tie-break in the final set. Collins tossed her racquet in celebration, but had only reached seven points and not the 10 required for victory. Last year's runner-up Collins said she felt "embarrassed" and is not "good with the score" in matches.

Collins drops racquet in celebration - then realises she hasn't won!

Tie-break scoring in tennis can be tough to remember – even for players it seems.

Danielle Collins thought she had won her Australian Open second-round match when Karolina Muchova hit a shot wide to make it 7-3 in the third set tie-break.

Last year’s runner-up tossed her racquet to the ground and raised her arms in the air as she celebrated victory.

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22/01/2024 at 06:17

Only it wasn’t victory.

As Collins started to walk to the net she realised something was up, so checked with the umpire, who informed her that she needed to reach 10 points to win the tie-break in the final set.

The 10-point tie-break in a final set has been in place at all four of the Grand Slams since last year and has been used at the Australian Open since 2019.

After initially looking shocked, Collins smiled when she realised her mistake and returned to the baseline for the next point.

Muchova threatened a comeback as she got to 7-5, but Collins wrapped up the win to set up a clash with Elena Rybakina and spare further blushes.

“I was a little embarrassed,” she afterwards with a smile.

“I never had to play a tie-break in the third set at a Grand Slam so I thought the match was over. I just told myself at least you didn’t face plant on the floor, I was trying to keep things in perspective.

"I am not good with the score, sometimes I forget. I need to work on that a bit!”

Eurosport commentator Chris Bradnam was amazed Collins didn’t know the scoring.

“It’s first to 10, that’s extraordinary!” he said as Collins celebrated too early.

“How did she not remember that? How do you recover from that?! It’s the same in all the majors this year Danielle!”

'Embarrassed' Collins laughs off early celebrations in win over Muchova

Collins made the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2019 as well as the final last year.

She said the crowd support was important in helping her advance past Muchova.

“I feel like a lot of people in the crowd were like my hype men today,” she said.

“How cool is it? Being able to live out your dream and have people come and support you and encourage you. It means so much. I don’t think if I was doing anything else people would be waiting outside of my work saying ‘Go Danielle’. I really appreciated it, it’s so cool to share that with a lot of the fans.

“It’s really special and I really appreciate everybody that was encouraging.”

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