Iga Swiatek survives scare vs. Danielle Collins at Australian Open

MELBOURNE — World No. 1 Iga Swiatek battled back from two breaks down in the final set to beat Danielle Collins 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 on Thursday and reach the third round of the Australian Open for the fifth successive year.

Collins is ranked 62nd but has a good record at Melbourne Park and beat Swiatek in the semifinals two years ago before going on to lose to Ashleigh Barty in the final.

Four-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek has an excellent record against lower-ranked players but had to dig deep into her reserves to overcome Collins in a scrappy three-hour contest on Rod Laver Arena.

Collins, 30, faltered in her serve at key moments in the match and Swiatek found her best tennis late in the decisive set to move on to a third-round clash with Czech Linda Noskova.