Using a protected ranking, she entered qualifying at the US Open and has not looked back, picking up her first main draw wins in the best part of two years.
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Stephens beat No. 30 seed Julia Goerges, of Germany 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the US Open quarterfinals for the first time. The 15th-seeded Keys will face her friend CoCo Vandeweghe for a spot in Saturday’s final. “The game being taken away from you really makes you realize how much you love it”, Keys said.
Keys said: ‘I think it’s great.
Madison Keys, whose forehand has been clocked as faster than any other woman’s – and many men’s – on tour, is only 22.
The four Americans in the 1981 U.S. Open semifinals were Martina Navratilova, Chris Event, Tracy Austin and Barbara Potter. In July, he reached the semifinals of a Grand Slam for the first time in his career when he did so at Wimbledon, and he has now won 16 out of his last 19 matches.
Vandeweghe’s win highlights what has been an incredible run for American women in the U.S. Open thus far.
Madison Keys gauranteed an American woman will win the 2017 US Open, not only reaching her second career Grand Slam semifinal, but also solidifying an the first all-American semifinal slate in NY since 1981 with a 6-3, 6-3 win over former World No.15 Kaia Kanepi.
Madison Keys has taken the opening set of her fourth-round U.S. Open match against No. 4-seeded Elina Svitolina by a 7-6 (2) score.
Pliskova had been the runner-up in 2016 and her failure to defend those points means that Wimbledon champion Muguruza will take the top ranking for the first time despite the Spaniard losing in the last 16 in NY. She lost to her younger sister Serena Williams at the Australian Open and to Garbine Muguruza at Wimbledon.
In her first major tournament since returning from a 15-month doping ban, Sharapova was trying to become just the second wild card in the Open era to reach the U.S. Open quarterfinals, but couldn’t overcome her 51 unforced errors.
Vandeweghe made the better start and moved into a 4-2 lead but two double faults gave the advantage back, the American smashing her racket in annoyance. Defending that constantly, I’m just going to really have to do everything really well.
“I think it was just good for me to get a feel for what it’s like playing on a big stage, playing on Ashe”, Brady said, “Next time I play on it, I’ll know what to expect”. It is a process and here I am.
Vandeweghe finished off a close, but straight-sets win over Lucie Safarova earlier in the day.
With the loss, Pliskova has all but given up her No. 1 ranking in women’s tennis.
“I watched the match last night with Venus and think she said it best”.
Keys needed just 69 minutes to see off a tired opponent who appeared to be simply out of gas after playing eight matches, including three in qualifying to get into the main draw.
The first set went to Keys in a 7-2 tiebreaker after a competitive series of games.
Sevastova will play unseeded American Sloane Stephens next. She’s buckled down on and off the court, and after complaining in the past of fatigue at this point in the season, she’s slimmed down her schedule a little.
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