Madison Keys and Naomi Osaka both stunted fellow power players with enormous groundstrokes, reaching the quarterfinals of the US Open with victories on Monday.
No. 14 seed Keys, the runner-up in New York last year, handed Dominika Cibulkova a 6-1, 6-3 defeat, replete with 25 winners, six aces and just four lost first serve points, across an hour and 17 minutes. Osaka, meanwhile, the No. 20 seed, defeated fellow 20-year-old Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 in just under two hours.
Keys put in arguably the most impressive performance, redirecting Cibulkova’s forceful shots with even more power, slamming lines and hitting cross-court to no end. She established her superiority by breaking the Slovak’s nearly 14-minute opening service game, by the end of which the American had already tallied eight winners.
Keys lost just four points on serve in the set and added another break later in the set, pressuring Cibulkova into an unforced error on an easy volley. She then closed the set emphatically, slamming a backhand from the corner back up the line to confirm her lead.
The American, who reached the semifinals at the French Open but struggled with niggling injuries ahead of the US Open, continued rolling early in the second set, slamming two groundstrokes off the baseline for the break. She momentarily gave back the lead but broke back for 4-3, all-but-securing the quarterfinal berth that she did so officially with a superb forehand on match point.
“I feel like today I played really well. I think I served well, other than one game. And other than that, I think I did a really good job to stay in some important games where I was down Love-30 or 15-40,” Keys said. “That’s what I’m most happy about and what I have been looking at.”
Osaka’s path was far less simple, as she struggled mightily in the second set and failed to take several chances in the third set before finally converting her fourth match point when Sabalenka double faulted. Osaka had fewer winners but also limited her unforced errors and played a more aggressive third set.
She broke back after going behind early in the set, then failed to capitalize on 0-40 at 2-3 and 0-30 at 3-4. She lost a 0-40 lead at 4-5 as Sabalenka again served her way out of trouble, but Osaka hit a superb return on the second deuce and did not need to hit another ball.
It was a tense ending after each player had dominated an earlier set, limiting errors and slamming winners in every direction. When it ended, Osaka had tearfully secured a maiden grand slam quarterfinal appearance, while Sabalenka threw her racket into the crowd at a first loss in two weeks.
