Florida, March 31 : Unseeded American Danielle Collins captured the highest-level title of her career after toppling No.4 seed Elena Rybakina 7-5, 6-3 to win the WTA 1000 Miami Open.

In an intense 2-hour and 2-minute display of power hitting by both players, 30-year-old Collins toughed out the win to take home her third career WTA singles title, her maiden WTA 1000 title, and her first title at any level since 2021, reports the WTA.

She won 17 of her last 21 matches, and with Saturday night's win, the American will move to World No. 22 as of next week.

Collins became the first American woman to take home the Miami Open title since Sloane Stephens in 2018. She is the sixth American woman overall to claim the crown, joining Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert, three-time champion Venus Williams, eight-time champion Serena Williams and Stephens.

She maintains her decision to retire at the end of this season, due to off-court health issues. She did not set a date for her farewell from professional tennis and plans to play at least until the US Open.

"What a dream come true, to have played at the level that I have played consistently over the last two weeks. This has been such a journey for me. Thirty years old, and this was the final of my first WTA 1000, it has been a different journey than I think a lot of the stories that we are familiar with.

"It has just been amazing to go out today and to have felt the energy that I felt from the fans and literally feel like I am playing in front of thousands of my best friends, that was just surreal. I will never forget this day because of that," Collins was quoted by the tournament website.

Collins revealed that winning a WTA 1000 was something in her plans for this last season, and the fact that she will not be playing professional tennis.

"I think part of the reason why I played so well and did a good job today was because I had that mentality of, like, I'm going to enjoy every minute of this. This is my last year, this is my last season, and these are some of my final events. I want to remember these moments," she added.

/IANS