12th-seeded Keys, bothered by wrist, loses
PARIS — Madison Keys started to feel something wrong in her surgically repaired left wrist late in the first set of her second-round match at the French Open. It would be the last set she would win in the tournament.
“It kind of just got worse and worse. And then I was hoping I could, obviously, get through it in the second set,” the 12th-seeded American said Thursday. “But then, by the third set, it was just really painful.”
Facing a qualifier ranked only 290th, Keys could not overcome the problems with her wrist and lost 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to Petra Martic of Croatia at Roland Garros.
Keys made 51 unforced errors, 31 more than Martic. The American hoped to avoid taking a medical timeout, so as not to make it obvious to her opponent that she was in duress, but eventually Keys called for a trainer after the second set.
Keys is right-handed, but she uses her left arm for two-fisted backhands. She had surgery during the offseason.
As the trainer examined her wrist on the sideline, tears ran down Keys’ cheeks. She would win only one game the rest of the way, piling up 14 unforced errors to five winners.
Keys, a semifinalist at the 2015 Australian Open and the Rio Olympics, missed the first two months of this year. “I am going to have the doctors look at it tomorrow,” Keys said, “and hopefully they can tell me what’s going on.”
In other highlights on Day 5:
On the men’s side, topseeded Andy Murray struggled through the first set but is through to the third round after beating Martin Klizan of Slovakia 6-7 (3), 6-2, 6-2, 7-6 (3), and former champion Stan Wawrinka posted yet another solid performance in a 6-4, 7-6 (5), 7-5 win over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Docked a point for smashing rackets, 18thseeded Nick Kyrgios went from a set and a breakup in the second round to a swift loss, ceding 16 of the last 19 games while being beaten 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, 6-2 by Kevin Anderson.
Kyrgios, who many believe could be a new face of tennis in the postNadal-Federer-Murray era, has an uneven attitude during matches that can derail him at a moment’s notice. That happened Thursday, and it was noticed by Anderson — a 31-year-old South African ranked 56th and only once a quarterfinalist in 31 appearances at Grand Slam tournaments.
“While he was sort of getting into his own head and struggling with some (of ) his own battles,” Anderson said, “I didn’t give him a way to get back in the match.”
In the most touching moment of the day, Juan Martin del Potro quickly went from fierce competitor to friendly consoler, showing deep reserves of compassion for an opponent who had to stop playing their secondround match because of a knee injury.
Del Potro’s own career has been a series of stops and starts because of a series of wrist operations since he won the 2009 U.S. Open. The 29th-seeded Argentine said that helped him empathize with the plight of Nicolas Almagro, who dropped to the clay court, bawling, early in the third set.
“I hope he’s feeling better. I know how sad (he) could feel ... after an injury, because I had a lot,” del Potro said. “I wish all the best to him.”