Last year’s US Open finalist Madison Keys continues her good run of form at the Australian Open as she has not dropped a set en route to her second quarterfinal in Melbourne after dispatching the 8th seed Caroline Garcia, 6-3, 6-2 in their fourth round clash in the first match scheduled on the Rod Laver Arena.
The 17th seeded American missed last year’s Australian Open due to a wrist injury but she has gone from strength to strength on her return to professional tennis as she reached her first Slam final at the US Open last year, where she lost to her good friend and compatriot Sloane Stephens.
Back to Melbourne, both players struggled in their opening service games as the first couple of games lasted around 15 minutes with a trade of breaks, however, Keys stopped the rot with a hold to love to lead 2-1. Garcia finally held her own serve to restore parity at 2-2.
Moreover, the former world number seven was playing like a top eight seeded player as she was in her groove as she broke the Frenchwoman’s serve to lead 4-2, as the American was showcasing her tremendous athleticism around the court, and continued to put Garcia on the backfoot.
Keys is under the tutelage of fellow American and three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport, who won the Australian Open singles title back in 2000, she was impressive by her charge’s performance as Keys clinched the opening set, 6-3 with a couple of back-to-back aces out wide.
This anticipating fourth round encounter was severly disappointing in terms of both players playing at their best as the 2017 US Open runner-up was in firm control of this match as she broke Garcia’s serve with ease at the start of the second set, and consolidated the break, racing out to a 2-0 lead.
Keys could not put a foot wrong as her backhand and forehands were firing on all cylinders as she continued to apply pressure to Garcia, who played two grueling back-to-back three set matches to get to this stage of the tournament, where the American had only dropped 14 games to reach the last 16.
However, despite leading a set and 4-0, the 17th seed had a slight blip as the 8th seed clawed back one of the breaks but the American was dialed in, and she immediately regained the double break advantage as she broke Garcia’s serve to love.
In a display, which the women’s draw will take notice of, Keys bulldozed her way to her fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal, and second in Melbourne by placing a low forehand winner in the corner, and a squeal of delight followed with a warm embrace at the net between the two players with Keys coming out on top, 6-3, 6-2 in just 68 minutes.
“I’m really excited, I think I’m playing well, handling my emotions well, I’m really happy to be in the quarterfinals.
Keys was asked by on-court interviewer Sam Smith about her perspective on professional tennis and if she watched plenty of tennis during her time off.
“It definitely made me realise how much I love it and how much pressure I put on myself, so missing this last year, I feel like I’m playing with no pressure and just going out there to play my game, just really being happy to be back out here and not at home on the couch.”
Keys continued, “I watched a handful it made me sad, so I pretty much avoided ESPN and Tennis Channel.”
The world number 20 said she will leave her coaches to do the scouting for Kerber and Su-wei Hsieh’s fourth round clash, who the American will play in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
“I leave it to Lindsay and DiDi, I think they’re better at doing that, I just do what they tell me to do.”
