Keys advances
’17 US Open finalist wins
NEW YORK – It might be surprising that Madison Keys is being virtually ignored at this US Open, especially considering she made the final last year.
But after winning her fourth-round match 6-1, 6-3, without any fanfare, against 29th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia on Monday, Keys said she’s perfectly OK with not being the center of attention.
“It’s, you know, kind of nice to be under the radar,” said Keys, 23. “Either way, I’m pretty used to it either way. This one just seems like it’s a little bit more low key.”
The 14th-seeded Keys also offered her opinion on why she has escaped notice.
“There is a bunch of big stories, obviously,” she said. “Serena (Williams) is back. Sloane (Stephens, the defending champion) is playing really well. There is just a lot going on this year.”
Technically speaking, Keys is navigating the US Open without a full-time coach after splitting with David Taylor after Cincinnati, where she reached the quarterfinals last month.
Nevertheless, she isn’t really feeling coach-less with Ola Malmqvist, head of Women’s Tennis for the United States Tennis Association, and longtime adviser Lindsay Davenport, a three-time Grand Slam tournament champion, stepping in to fill the void. U.S. Fed Cup captain Kathy Rinaldi also is offering assistance.
“Ola has been helping since I got here,” she said. “Kathy Rinaldi helped me a little bit earlier in the week. Lindsay has been here. So I feel like I have a lot of people around me. You know, they are always super supportive, no matter what, and they all stepped up and said that we’re 100 percent here for you. Honestly, it feels no different than anywhere else.”
Keys admits to being curious to see how it will feel if she hasn’t yet picked a full-time coach and goes off to upcoming tournaments on her own.
“I think it just puts all — it’s all on me,” she said. “You know, I have to be the one out there to figure it out, and tough times, and all of that. It’s definite- ly fun, but it makes me really think and be accountable.”
Keys arrived in New York with scant hardcourt play, having withdrawn from San Jose and Montreal ahead of Cincinnati with a cyst, which had to be drained, on her right wrist. Earlier in her career, Keys had left wrist issues, which resulted in surgery.
When Keys secured a semifinal slot in this year’s French Open — her best showing at the dirt-court major — she improved her career résumé to having reached at least the quarterfinals at all four Grand Slams.
Her other Grand Slam results this season were quarterfinals in Australia and the third round at Wimbledon.
Keys is a big server, and besides six aces against Cibulkova, she won 83 percent of her first-serve points and 65 percent of her second-serve points in the match.
“I feel like today I played really well,” Keys said. “I think I served well, other than one game. And other than that, I think I did a really good job to stay in some important games where I was down love-30 or 15-40. That’s what I’m most happy about and what I have been looking at.”
Heading into the Open, Keys’ record showed her to have one of the strongest serving records of the year on tour. She placed at No. 3 with a 61.6 percent record on serve points won, No. 5 with 75.1 percent of service games won, and No. 6 with a 69.5 percent record on first serve points won this season.
In her first three matches in New York, she was in second position with a
78 percent record for first serve points won.
Keys will play the winner of Monday night’s fourth-round match between
22nd-ranked Maria Sharapova, a fivetime Grand Slam champion, and 30thseeded Carla Suarez Navarro, in the quarterfinals.