Madison Keys hailed the impact of Coach Lindsay Davenport after she survived a major scare to beat Bernarda Pera 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5 and reach the semi-final in Charleston for the second time.
“I adore Lindsey,” she said in her on-court interview. “She’s been amazing – not just for my game but for staying positive and just believing in myself.”
This is the first time since the 2017 US Open that the American has reached the last four of an event and she now has a great chance to go on and claim her fourth WTA title.
Keys raced through the first set 6-2 in just 30 minutes. She won 17 of 25 points on her serve and was gifted breaks in games three and eight by errors and double faults from Pera.
The lower-ranked American played much better in the second set and it became a titanic serving battle that went all the way to a tie-break.
Keys had two match points on Pera’s serve in game twelve and should have taken the second. However, she netted a backhand down the line and went on to lose the tie-break 7-5.
Keys edges close decider
Pera forged ahead in the decider when she hit two superb forehand winners to break in game six. But she made a couple of double faults and an error to give her higher-ranked opponent the chance to break immediately, and Keys gratefully accepted the chance with a clinical forehand winner.
Both players held on to their serve in the next three games before an error from Pera gifted Keys a chance to break. The World No.14 hustled well to force another error and earned an opportunity to serve for the match.
After dropping the opening point, Keys hit a big serve and a brilliant forehand winner down the line to go up 30-15. She followed up with two more excellent serves which Pera was unable to return and let out a cry of ‘come on!’ after sealing a hard-fought win.
The American will now face Kiki Bertens in the second semi-final after the 12th seed outplayed Alize Cornet for a 6-2 7-5 win.
“She played really, really well in the second and third sets,” said Keys in her on-court interview. “It was definitely tough to bounce back after having match points but I’m really glad that I was able to do it.”
The American was asked what got over the finish line. She said, “I think the biggest thing was just going for my shots and not letting her dictate everything.”
