Madison Keys wasn’t at her sharpest early in her second-round match against Tereza Valentova, but she settled in and pulled away for a 6-4, 6-1 win in 1 hour and 24 minutes to reach the Adelaide quarterfinals for the second straight year.
Adelaide: Scores | Draws | Order of play
The event’s reigning champion overcame seven double faults and saved five break points to secure the first set in 49 minutes. Valentova pushed to stay in it, but Keys ripped a forehand return winner off the 18-year-old’s second serve to break for a 2-0 lead in the second set.
From there, she won four of the final five games to close out a hard-earned victory.
“You know, it kind of sucks,” Keys said with a laugh in her on-court interview. “They’re just so young, and they have so much energy and they’re so excited to be out here. And they’re just so good.
“So you definitely have to just expect them to play some really great tennis, and like I said, try to lean on experience in those big moments and just kind of hope that that gets you across the finish line.”
The win sends Keys to the last eight in Adelaide, where she’ll face another teen sensation, Victoria Mboko, in their first meeting at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level.
“I’m actually quite looking forward to it,” Keys said in her press conference. “She is a very, very good player. Even before she won her title in Canada she was on some insane like 20-something match win streak. So definitely everyone’s kind of had their eyes out for her a little bit.
“It’s going to be a really tough match. It’s always really difficult playing some of these younger players who kind of just go for everything. It feels like they have no scar tissue yet, so they really just kind of swing for the fences.”
But first, here’s how the American got it done on Wednesday:
Timely hitting: It wasn’t a day without struggle for Keys, but she consistently delivered when it mattered most.
From 40-15 down while trailing by a break in the opening set, she rallied to deuce, earned a break point and converted with a forehand winner taken right off of Valentova’s racket to level at 3-3.
She kept leaning on that forehand throughout the match. After the return winner gave her a 2-0 lead in the second set, she rocketed another forehand by Valentova from double break point up to extend the lead to 5-1.
In all, Keys converted five of her six break points.
Tale of two sets: After a shaky start on serve, the World No. 9 flipped the script as the match progressed.
Keys landed just 54% of her first serves, hit seven double faults and was broken twice in the opening set. But the second set told a different story. Though she still struggled to locate her first serve at times, her second serve became less vulnerable, and she limited herself to just two double faults.
She didn’t face a single break point in the second set and saw the rest of her game improve as a result. After committing 20 unforced errors in the first set, she cut that number to seven in the second set as she cruised to victory.
“I think in the second set obviously probably solving the second serve a bit,” Keys said. “But I think the first serve also got a little bit more effective and I was able to do a little bit more damage with it, just kind of create a little bit more opportunities on those first balls.
“Then I think being able to kind of take advantage of those early break opportunities and really get a lead I think kind of helped me just take the momentum and keep running with it.”
Cristian beats Kasatkina for first time behind second-set bagel
Entering Wednesday’s match, it was fair to wonder if Jaqueline Cristian had a Daria Kasatkina problem. In their two completed meetings, the Romanian had lost both — though Kasatkina was ranked much higher on both occasions.
This time, the roles were reversed. Cristian entered as World No. 37, while Kasatkina came in at No. 48 following recent struggles.
And once again, the higher-ranked player prevailed. Cristian survived a chaotic first set that featured just one combined hold to nine breaks — including six straight to open the match — before running away with a 6-4, 6-0 win in 1 hour and 31 minutes.
Cristian broke Kasatkina eight times, converting eight of her 18 break points. Kasatkina, meanwhile, struggled mightily on serve, finishing with nine double faults.
The result gave Cristian her second straight-sets win of the week, following her upset of No. 4 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova in the first round.
She’ll face another Australian in the quarterfinals in Kimerly Birrell, who advanced after Marketa Vondrousova withdrew due to injury ahead of their second-round match.
Cristian and Birrell have split their two previous meetings, with the Romanian scoring a dominant 6-0, 6-1 victory last year at Roland Garros.