Flamboyant American tennis star Danielle Collins has created divide in the sport, and while she has backers and detractors aplenty, a “rocky relationship” with retired Australian superstar Ash Barty is perhaps most notable.

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On Thursday night, in the immediate aftermath of her intense three-set triumph over 177-ranked Australian Destanee Aiava, the 10th-seeded Collins taunted the partisan crowd at Show Court Arena.

On-court, the 31-year-old told the crowd to ‘shut up’ and made multiple gestures — including cupping her ear and pointing to her backside — and said post-match that her ‘haters’ would effectively be paying for her next big-money vacation.

“You know, I was thinking during the match, I was like ‘Hmm, if I’m out here, I may as well just take that big, fat pay-cheque’,” Collins said in her on-court interview.

“Coco (Vandeweghe) and I just love a five-star vacation, so part of that cheque is going to go towards that. So, thank you guys.”

Collins doubled down in her official post-match conference: “One of the greatest things about being a professional athlete is the people that don’t like you and the people that hate you, they actually pay your bills. It’s kind of a cool concept.

“Me and my group of girlfriends, we love a five-star vacation, so I can guarantee you that cheque is going to go towards our next five-star trip — hopefully to the Bahamas. We like boats, we like big boats, we like yachts. So, yeah, we’ll post about it and let you guys know how it goes.”

The legendary Novak Djokovic threw his support behind Collins, saying he was now a “big fan” of the women’s No.10.

“I heard some comments of people that she shouldn’t have said (this) or that. I think she handled it really well … I think she was funny, smart, and (I’m) just big fan of what she did,” he said.

However, it is retired champion Barty’s history with Collins that might raise the most eyebrows.

Barty, the women’s world No.1 for a career-long 114 consecutive weeks before calling it quits in 2022, defeated Collins at the start of ‘22 to claim the Australian Open title in what wound up as her final professional outing.

In her subsequent memoir My Dream Time, Barty labelled her relationship with Collins “rocky” and described previous bouts with the American as “ugly” and “tiring”.

An excerpt reads: “Who I’ll be playing against is decided the next day. Iga Swiatek is playing Danielle Collins, and for me the equation is simple. I love Iga, and I have a rocky relationship with Danielle. I want to play Iga. I want to share it with her. But Danielle wins, and I think back to the matches we’ve had in the past and how they were never fun. I never walk off court after playing Danielle thinking, That was good tennis. Each match has been an ugly, tiring scrap.”

In late 2022, Australian tennis legend Pat Rafter dropped more than a hint on the pair’s apparent rivalry: “I knew with her and Danielle, they had a bit of a … what’s the word … there was no love lost, anyway. Danielle’s pretty feisty … and Ash didn’t want to lose to her.”

Further, veteran Herald Sun journalist Scott Gullan claims Barty ‘hates’ Collins.

“While Barty is too nice to say it as frankly as that, don’t worry she has no time for the American who she beat in that historic Open final at Melbourne Park three years ago,” he wrote.

“There was no way she was going to let Collins beat her that night and her epic second-set comeback was motivated by her dislike for the girl at the opposite side of the net.

“The exact origins of their beef isn’t widely known but it was a well-kept secret that the happy go-lucky Barty, who was loved by everyone on the tour, couldn’t stand the girl who refers to herself in the third person as ‘The Danimal”.

And while Collins undeniably also has her supporters this Open, including Djokovic and Aussie great Casey Dellacqua — who ‘loves’ the fact tennis has ‘villains’ such as the American — there is little mystery about who the crowd favourite will be when she meets compatriot Madison Keys in the third round at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday night.