Danielle Collins forgets rules during Wimbledon match and apologises to Iga Swiatek

Danielle Collins temporarily forgot the rules of tennis in a comical moment against Iga Swiatek on Saturday. The American, while preparing to face down a serve from the Pole, seemed to be the only person inside Wimbledon's Centre Court who did not realise she had made a mistake.

Midway through a first set dominated by Swiatek, a first serve was bombed down the court towards Collins and called out. It soon became evident that Collins either did not hear the call or forgot the rules of the sport she has played professionally for almost a decade, as she walked all the way over to the other side of the baseline, as if preparing to face a Swiatek serve from the other direction.

Murmurs began to grow in volume around Centre Court as Swiatek stayed in her original spot, bouncing the ball and preparing for her second serve. The rumblings turned to laughter when Collins looked up, acknowledged her mistake and sheepishly jogged back to the right side of the baseline.

She also shouted "Sorry, Iga!" down the court to try and make light of the situation. But the favourite was all business as she put Collins to the sword, ploughed through the first set and then won the match in double-quick time.

Relative to her lofty standing in the women's game, Wimbledon has historically been an unhappy hunting ground for former world No.1 and five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek.

Despite having won the French Open and the US Open, and reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, her career-best Wimbledon run is only to the quarter-finals, making it her least successful Slam on the calendar.

But Swiatek has been in fine form since arriving for this year's tournament. Following wins over Polina Kudermetova and Caty McNally in the first two rounds, she dominated Collins in every department to book her spot in the round of 16.

The Polish competitor, who was the top seed at last year's Championships, broke early in the first set to make it 2-1 and then again to make it 4-1. Her shot variation had Collins slipping and sliding all over the court, with the 31-year-old forced to pick herself off the turf and dust herself down more than once.

Another Swiatek break and hold followed at the very start of the second set, and she fashioned another in the last game of the match to clinch a 6-2 6-3 victory in an hour and 15 minutes.