Madrid (Spain) – Just as had already happened at the beginning of this Tuesday’s round, the second game of the quarterfinals of the WTA 1000 in Madrid had another twist. North American Madison Keys, 20th in the ranking, overcame Tunisian Ons Jabeur, number 9 in the world and 2022 champion, with splits of 0/6, 7/5 and 6/1 in 1h33 of play.
A former No. 7 seed and winner of seven WTA tournaments, Keys scored her 28th career victory against a top 10 seed and her second in Madrid. She had already eliminated third-placed Coco Gauff in the round of 16 of the tournament. The experienced 29-year-old player did not have such a good track record on the clay courts in the Spanish capital. She reached the round of 16 in 2016 and stopped five times in a row on her debut.
In scoring her first victory in three matches against Jabeur, Keys also joins sisters Venus and Serena Williams among the only North American women to have reached the semi-finals of both WTA 1000s on clay, in Rome and Madrid. Looking for her 13th career final, Keys challenges world number 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. She has one victory in three games against the Pole. Iga is coming off a victory over Beatriz Haddad Maia by 4/6, 6/0 and 6/2.
“The key to the game was finally winning the first game. From then on, I relaxed and managed to play my best tennis”, said Keys, in the on-court interview. The North American also spoke about the prospect of facing the leader of the ranking. “I’m going to watch a lot of videos and try to have a good strategy, but I need to think about my side of the court.”
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The opening set of the match was largely dominated by Jabeur, who managed three breaks and escaped two break-points in his first service game. And the Tunisian broke again at the beginning of the second set to make it 2/0. Only then did Keys manage to confirm a service game, and soon after returned the break. The North American started to confirm her serves without facing break-points, even with some long games at 4/4 and 5/5. After escaping defeat, she broke again and closed the set.
Recognized for being an aggressive player with a lot of power in her shots, especially with her forehand, Keys also made good use of her short shots. On the other hand, the always versatile Jabeur was increasingly lost in unforced errors. The North American managed two new breaks and won 5/0. Only then did the Tunisian keep her serve again, in a quick game and also counting on a drop-shot in the last point. But Keys knew how to take advantage of the great advantage built and consolidated the turnaround. She led the winners statistics by 21 to 17 and made 23 errors compared to Jabeur’s 19.
