Keys plays strong into Open semis
Madison Keys continued her resurgent 2022 season by advancing to the Australian Open semifinals.
And resurgent might be a major understatement.
Her 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal win over French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova on Tuesday was her 10th match win in a row and 11th of the new year. That includes five wins so far at Melbourne Park, five in winning the Adelaide International title 10 days ago and one at a Melbourne tournament in the first week of the season.
Her total number of wins in all of 2021? That same number, 11.
“I did everything I could to rest this offseason and focus on starting fresh and new ... starting from zero and not focusing on last year,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “I think it’s going well so far!”
Last week, Keys gave more details on how terrible 2021 was for her.
“I was just at a very high anxiety level all of the time,” Keys said. “I wasn’t sleeping as well. It felt like there was literally a weight on my chest just because I became so focused and obsessed with it that I wasn’t enjoying really anything because it’s all that I was thinking about.”
Krejcikova took a medical timeout while trailing 5-2 in the first set from what might have been heat stress, and appeared to be lethargic at times during the 35-minute second set.
Keys will play either top-ranked Ash Barty or Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. Barty and Pegula were playing a night match on Rod Laver Arena.
TSITSIPAS EDGES FRITZ, ENDS US MEN’S HOPES (SUN.) >>
For Taylor Fritz, the difference between reaching the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time and missing out again came down to three points in an 3 ½-hour, five-set loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas.
The 24-year-old Fritz was aiming to put an American man back into the quarterfinals of a major tournament. Tennys Sandgren in 2020 was the last one to do it, reaching the last eight in Australia.
The fourth-seeded Greek finished off a 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory two minutes after midnight to conclude Day 8.