Florida’s Danielle Collins, Sofia Kenin Big Winners at 2024 Miami Open

The 2024 Miami Open has come to a close and the Sunshine State, once again, showed its legacy of building champions. 

St. Petersburg native, Danielle Collins, who announced her retirement earlier this year, won the biggest tournament of her career, defeating World No. 4 Elena Rybakina, a former Grand Slam Champion, to capture the Women’s Singles Miami Open Championship. 

Collins got her start in tennis in the Sunshine state, having grown up in Junior Team Tennis, to winning our most prestigious Junior title, the Bobby Curtis Junior State Championship, which she won three times (2006 12s, 2009 & 2011 18s). She also began her collegiate tennis career at University of Florida as their star player.  

Now, in her professional career, Collins captures the third singles title of her career and will look to carry this momentum into the season as three more Grand Slams remain on the calendar.  

Sofia Kenin also took home some hardware at the Miami Open and she teamed up with Bethanie Mattek-Sands for the pair’s second tournament win of the year.  

Kenin grew up playing in the USTA Florida competitive environment. She was a Bobby Curtis Champion back in 2010, taking home the Girls 12s division. Kenin also had some impressive runs at the Junior Orange Bowl and other Florida tournaments as she grew up and developed her game in the state. 

The pair was clutch all weekend long as four of their five matches went to a 10-point tiebreaker. In three of the four tiebreakers, Kenin and Mattek-Sands only won by two points, showing insane nerves. 

Earlier this year, the duo won a 500 level event at the Abu Dhabi Open. With their performances so far, the two have rose to the No. 7 ranked pair in the world and certain to make some noise in 2024. 

Kenin, a former Grand Slam champion is looking to catch fire as the season starts to pick up and the two of them will definitely be a name to look out for throughout the year. 

Closing out the player’s side was Austin Krajicek alongside his partner Ivan Dodig, who went on a great run in Miami. The two made it to the finals, where they played Matthew Ebden and Rohan Bopanna, the top doubles team in the world. 

It was a very close championship match as each pair took home a set. In the tiebreaker it was back and forth, but ultimately Krajicek and Dodig fell four points short. Nonetheless, it was a great performance by Krajicek in his hometown state. 

Putting punctuation on the state’s legacy for building champions and to celebrate the USTA Florida Section’s 75th Anniversary, there was a special mural created by another local legend in his own right, artist Sergio Quinonez, also known as “SURGE.” 

The mural, featuring Serena Williams, Mardy Fish, Mary Joe Fernandez, Jim Courier, and Chris Evert, was on display for fans to take pictures and share using the “#USTAFL75” in honor of the organization’s 75th Anniversary. For more information on the yearlong festivities, visit ustaflorida.com/75th.