Danielle Collins looks—and sounds—like a US Open contender after late-night slugfest with Naomi Osaka 

Boom. “Come on!”

Boom. “Come on!”

Boom “Come ahhhnnn!!!”

That’s how Danielle Collins 7-6 (5), 6-3 win over Naomi Osaka sounded in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Tuesday night. The two women traded blows, and screams, well past midnight in a match that, at least for one set, was played at the level of a second-week encounter.

In truth, it was mostly Collins who was doing the booming and the screaming. Even when she missed, she filled the air with a loud, “Come on, Danielle!” as if she had just won the point. While Osaka tried to match the American’s energy and ground-stroke power, Collins had a decided edge in both departments. She hit 11 backhand winners, forced Osaka into 30 errors, and won 77 percent of Osaka’s second-serve points. If Collins hadn’t double-faulted nine times, the match likely would have ended sooner.

This was an Osaka who was ready to compete. She jumped out to an early lead, and saved two break points with a brilliant set of winners at 5-5. But she missed too many crosscourt forehands, and sent too many second serves into Collins’ meat-grinder of a backhand return. She was also second-best when it mattered most, in the first-set tiebreaker. From 4-4 on, Collins dropped a defensive lob onto the baseline for a winner, and Osaka missed a forehand long and a backhand into the net. The match reached its peak of shotmaking intensity in those moments, and Osaka never quite recovered.

Maybe the most remarkable thing about Collins’ performance was how controlled it was. Yes, she made errors. But she kept overcoming errors to hold, and kept her backhand inside the lines even when she was belting it with blistering pace. Most important, over her last few service games she suddenly cut out the double faults. Down break point while serving for the match at 5-3, she saved it by jamming Osaka with a perfect serve into her left hip.

Osaka, who once lived for the majors, will finish with a 2-3 record at them in 2022, and with first-round exits at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows. Collins may be heading in the opposite direction. She reached the Australian Open final earlier this year, and seems to have recovered from a recent neck injury. Now, at an increasingly wide-open US Open, she looks, and sounds, like a contender.