Danielle Collins says practice sessions with a ball machine when she was a child may help her devise the tactics she hopes will deny Ash Barty an Australian Open title.
After Barty stormed into the women's final at Melbourne Park with a 6-1, 6-3 defeat of Madison Keys on Thursday night, Collins was equally impressive in eliminating seventh seed Iga Świątek of Poland, 6-4, 6-1.
It will be 27th-seeded Collins's first appearance in the final of a major championship.
Barty is chasing her third major, while she is also bidding to become the first local to win the Australian Open women's title in 44 years.
Collins has spoken about her admiration of Barty's game, highlighting her variety and use of the slice backhand.
She is not intimidated by Barty's approach, as she believed practicing on public courts in Florida as a child and during her professional career would help her combat the world number one's strategy.
"I think over the course of my career I have done a pretty good job of practicing against people who have variety in their game," Collins said after Thursday night's semifinal win.
"I try to play with people that throw different shots at me that maybe I don't get all the time, just so that I'm constantly working on it and trying to get better at it.
"I played against a lot of people in the park (public courts) that liked the slice backhand, a lot of people that have a one-handed backhand — which Ash doesn't really have — but who use the one-handed slice.
"In my off-season, that (practicing on public courts) was what I was doing every day. I was playing at the public park close to my house, and most of the days I was on the court with my boyfriend and we were hitting on the ball machine.
"That can throw some different variety at me too sometimes."
Collins's 'Zen' moment
Facing the ball machine on public courts was a constant of Collins's tennis upbringing.
The 28-year-old said she had previously drawn upon the experience for inspiration when playing for the US in the Billie Jean King Cup and would do so again when she plays Barty on Saturday night.
"Even when I'm here and playing in these stadiums, I think back to all the special moments that I have had there (public courts)," Collins said.
"It's really like a Zen moment for me sometimes to think about playing in the park.
"When I was losing to (Russian) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova [at the Billie Jean King Cup], US captain Kathy Rinaldi had said, 'All right, Danielle, just think about being at your park with your ball machine as a kid'," she said.
Collins has previously played Barty four times, with the Australian having won three of those matches.
But Collins — whose career-high ranking is 23 — did triumph in their most recent clash, claiming a 6-3, 6-4 result at last year's Adelaide International.
"I think every time we played we have battled, and they have been some really fun matches," Collins said.
"Even the matches that I have lost have been some of my most memorable moments on court because of the way we were battling and going back and forth.
"I think when I go out against her, we're going to have another battle hopefully and put on a good show for everyone.
"I'm going to have to kind of look back at some of the matches that we have played in the past and sit down and kind of think about what worked well and maybe some of the things that didn't work as well and just try to come up with the best game plan possible."
