Australian Open Day 11: Danielle Collins continues fairytale run, will face Ash Barty in final

After 11 days at the Australian Open, the women's singles final is set. And while we won't know until Saturday who will be the last one standing at the end, we know one thing for sure: The champion will be a first-timer no matter what.

Danielle Collins continues fairytale run

American Danielle Collins, ranked 30th in the world and seeded 27th in Melbourne, is going to her first Grand Slam final. Collins beat No. 7 Iga Swiatek in straight sets, hammering out a 6-4, 6-1 victory in one hour and 18 minutes.

Swiatek, the 2020 French Open winner, was in trouble from the start. Collins began the first set by breaking her serve, then jumping out to a 4-0 lead. Swiatek was able to bounce back and win four of the next five games, but she couldn't hold off Collins long enough to make a full comeback. Collins won the final two games to take the set.

Collins then did the exact same thing in the second set: She started by breaking Swiatek's serve and racing out to a 4-0 lead. But by the second set — just one day after her three-hour and one-minute quarterfinal battle against Kaia Kanepi — Swiatek was drained. She couldn't mount anything close to a comeback, winning just one game in the second set before Collins closed out the match.

This victory is especially symbolic for Collins. At the 2021 Australian Open, her periods were giving her such debilitating pain that she collapsed on the court and needed the attention of a doctor. She was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis and in April needed emergency surgery to remove a cyst the size of a tennis ball from her ovary.

Despite needing four incisions in her abdomen to remove the cyst, she recovered in time to play at the French Open. Since then, she's won her first two WTA titles, and now she's on to the Australian Open final.

Ash Barty sweeps into finals

Ashleigh Barty, the world No. 1, is one step closer to winning her home country's greatest tennis title.

Barty dispatched American Madison Keys with casual ease, defeating her 6-1, 6-3 in a match that took just 62 minutes. Barty, who held the lead the entire match, is the first Australian woman to reach the Australian Open finals since Wendy Turnbull in 1980.

The hot streak Barty has been on is incredible. She's an efficiency expert, having been on the court for just over six hours total leading up to the final. She's yet to drop a single set at the Aussie Open, and has lost just 21 total games. That puts the 25-year-old in rare company.

After the match, Barty had nothing but glowing compliments for Keys, perfectly illustrating the incredible camaraderie on the women's tour.

Keys is the third straight American woman Barty has beaten at the Australian Open. She beat Amanda Anisimova in the fourth round, Jessica Pegula in the quarterfinals and Keys in the semis. Just one more American woman stands between her and ultimate victory.

If Barty wins, she'll be the first Australian woman to win the Aussie Open single's title since Chris O'Neil in 1978.