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The Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd roared and Madison Keys let out a brief yell full of joy as her throwback U.S. Open run continued Wednesday night.
The 17th-ranked American is back in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows after a five-year hiatus, and she has gotten there in impressive fashion, losing just one set so far. Keys had little trouble in her quarterfinal win over ninth-seeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova, cruising to a 6-1, 6-4 victory at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“I just love it here. I love playing here,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “In front of a home crowd you can never feel like you can’t get out of any situation.”
With the win over the reigning Wimbledon champion, Keys advanced to the semifinals for the third time at the U.S. Open, and for the sixth time at a Grand Slam.
She has never won a major tournament.
In the semifinals on Thursday night, Keys will face No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, the only player who has been more dominant on the women’s side of the tournament.
The two met in the Wimbledon quarterfinals and Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion this year, won in straight sets.
“There is a reason she’s going to be No. 1 on Monday,” Keys said.
An all-American final is possible because No. 6 Coco Gauff of the U.S. will face 10th-seeded Czech Karolina Muchova in the other semifinal.
Keys was dominant in the first set Wednesday, which took just 39 minutes.
The eight-minute delay, because of a fan needing medical assistance near the court, didn’t bother her.
The match was stopped at deuce in the first game.
Keys responded by ripping off the next eight points and 12 of the following 13 to gain control of the opening set.
Twice, she broke Vondrousova and ended three games with forehand winners, including the final point of the set.
“The power, you know, it’s so fast,” Vondrousova said of Keys’ stroke. “I feel like you don’t know where she’s gonna play [the ball]. She can play the line, she can play cross[court]. I feel like today she just played great on both sides. … It was really like I couldn’t do much today.”
The forehand helped Keys control the match.
When she faced two break points late in the second set on serve, she went to the forehand to bail herself out.
Ultimately trailing 4-3, Keys saved four break points and then broke Vondrousova in the ensuing game, enabling her to serve out the match.
Keys, 28, was once considered the future of American women’s tennis.
She rose to a top-10 national ranking at the age of 21 and reached the semifinals at Flushing Meadows in 2017 and 2018.
Her grand slam breakthrough never arrived, even if she has remained one of the top 15-20 players in the world.
She entered this U.S. Open well under-the-radar, as she likes it.
She was coming off a quiet hard-court season and hasn’t been the draw she once was, overshadowed by Americans Gauff and third-seeded Jessica Pegula, whom she beat in the fourth round.
Keys has talked a lot about lowering expectations for herself, focusing on her game rather than results.
She can’t escape the spotlight now, though, not after this latest triumph. It didn’t seem to bother her on Wednesday night.
“These are the moments you want to be in,” Keys said. “So that kind of pressure of it’s the big stage, but also just the reminder of this is literally what we have all dreamed of. These are the moments that you’re practicing for and you’re playing for and you’re constantly trying to get back to.”
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