Safe & sound: Keys rolls into semis at noisy Open
Madison Keys is making a habit of making noise at the U.S. Open.
The 23- year-old American slugger, the runner-up last year, booked a return trip to the semifinals on Wednesday night with a rock-solid 6-4, 6-3 victory over tricky veteran Carla Suarez Navarro.
That makes three semifinals in the past f ive majors for Keys, including a final-four run at the French Open. Keys, the No. 14 seed, said she is better prepared and better rested for this stage than she was last year, when she was routed by Sloane Stephens in the final.
“I think I’ve gotten a lot better managing my emotions once it gets to this part and knowing that everything is going to be probably more amped up,” Keys said, “and not shying away from those but just really being honest about it and talking about it. Just, you know, embracing the moment.”
Keys isn’t the only one making noise. Both players spoke to the umpire during the match about the boisterous hum coming from the late-arriving Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd. ESPN’s Pam Shriver, in her on-court interview with Keys, snidely referred to the atmosphere as “happy hour.”
“Being in front of a very energetic crowd tonight was fun,” Keys answered diplomatic ally ,“and having them behind me was great.”
No. 30 seed Suarez Navarro was much sharper in her comments to the Spanish media. She sulked about not enjoy- ing the match at all amid the din, which prevented her from hearing the line calls or the sound of the ball coming off Keys’ racket. Suarez Navarro wondered whether the spectators were there to eat and have a conversation or to watch tennis.
Keys, facing the quickest turnaround of the four semifinalists before Thursday’s prime-time card, took care of her rabbit-eared foe in a tidy 83 minutes, capitalizing on one break in each set while winning all 10 of her service games. Keys was credited with 22 winners to Suarez Navarro’s 10, with 11 of them from her lethal forehand.
Next up is breakout star Naomi Osaka, the No. 20 seed who can match Keys stroke for power stroke. When they
played in the third round of the Open in 2016, Keys overcame a 5-1 deficit in the third set against a distraught Osaka, then just 18 years old.
Keys remembers that meeting most of all for reinforcing a lesson from her mentor Lindsay Davenport about — of all things — activating the energy and vocal support of a partisan crowd.
“I know now to, you know, as a home favorite, to let myself let the crowd in and let them help me,” Keys said. “It just gives you a little bit of an energy boost where they are very good at knowing when you need it, and then when you are kind of riding a high, they definitely help you stay there.”
Keys is on that high now, and doesn’t want the noise to stop until she’s raising a trophy on Saturday.