Madison Keys stuns Elena Rybakina to reach Australian Open quarter-finals
Madison Keys delivered a thrilling performance to upset sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 at Margaret Court Arena on Monday, securing a place in the Australian Open quarter-finals and extending her winning streak in 2024 to nine matches.
The Adelaide Open champion had previously lost to Rybakina in their last two meetings but took control of the fourth-round clash, except for a challenging second set where she dropped four consecutive games.
Rybakina, who appeared to be battling a lower back issue lingering from the third round, struggled to maintain consistency. Keys capitalized on this by employing an aggressive strategy to counter Rybakina’s powerful serve and dominate the rallies.
“Her serve is such a weapon, so I knew that if I could just try to make at least some of her service games a little bit competitive, then I had a chance,” said Keys, reflecting on her third win over a top-10 player this month. “So I was basically just trying to make anything that I could get my racket on back over the net, which worked sometimes.”
The match opened with Keys securing the first set as Rybakina double-faulted twice while serving to stay in it. Rybakina took a bathroom break before the second set, which disrupted Keys’ momentum.
As Keys’ unforced errors increased, Rybakina took advantage, breaking serve three times to force a deciding set.
Keys regained her composure in the third set, holding serve during a marathon second game that went to deuce five times. That hold appeared to reignite her confidence, allowing her to finish the match with a powerful cross-court winner on her second match point.
“I’ve actually been working on trying to play a little bit more aggressive,” said Keys. “I found that in the second set I got a little bit nervous and I felt like I got a little bit passive.”
Keys will face Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals after Svitolina’s 6-4, 6-1 victory over Veronika Kudermetova earlier on Monday.
Rybakina, 25, admitted that her back felt better going into the match but was still a factor.
“The task for me now is to restore my back and work on the serve,” Rybakina said. “Today, there were quite a lot of chances to hold it and I didn’t come through. In general, I need to work on moving to the net. There is still a lot that I need to work on.”
As Keys continues her impressive run, she inches closer to her ultimate goal of a Grand Slam title.
SportsLigue