It was yet another upset at the Australian Open (AO) that became a huge talking point as unseeded Madison Keys derailed defending French Open champion and fourth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova in straight sets by 6-3, 6-2. The quarterfinal clash which lasted 85 minutes saw Keys make her first AO semifinal since 2015. Her giant-killing form has so far seen her oust eighth seed Paula Badosa in fourth round. Keys will now face Australia's Ashleigh Barty in the semi-final.
Barty's victory
The top-seeded Australian did not have a tough task in beating her American opponent Jessica Pegula 6-2, 6-0 in the quarter-finals of AO. Barty secured her semi-final spot in 1 hour and 3 minutes.
The 27-year-old American tennis player managed to win two games in the first set but a dominating performance from Barty did not give Pegula any chance to clinch a single game in the second set.
Keys dominates
On the other hjand, both Keys and Krejcikova entered the court having dropped only one set throughout the tournament but it was the USA tennis player that started on a positive note after dominating initial games. The decisive point arrived when Krejcikova hit her forehand wide in the sixth game of the opening set which saw her lose her serve. This set the tone for Keys to dominate as she encountered nine aces and 73 per cent first serves, which saw her pocket the first set 6-3.
Things only got better in the second set as Keys won the opening game by breaking Krejcikova. The same pattern followed in the third and seventh game as well after the the 26-year-old American tennis player won three break points. Once again it was the first serves that let the defending French Open champion down, as she could muster only 57 per cent first serves compared to Keys' 71 per cent.
The US star is now determined to go one better from her 2015 exploits when she exited at the semifinal stage. Her only appearance at a major final was in the US Open, back in 2017 when she was defeated by fellow compatriot Sloane Stephens.
In her post-match reaction, she was full of determination and spoke about how difficult it was for her to get here.
Keys speaks
“I think I'm going to cry. It means a lot and last year was really hard. I did everything that I could with my team to just really reset this off-season and focus on starting fresh and new, really just starting from zero and not worrying about last year,” Keys said.
"I will say it's been kind of nice to be the underdog for the first time in a long time. It's really just not even in my head about winning and losing. It's really just going out, competing, trying to do what the game plan is.
“If that's not working, going to plan B. The rest is kind of not even getting into my brain,” she added.