Madison Keys Wins Thrilling Battle Against Elina Svitolina To Reach Third AO Semifinal
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Madison Keys will compete for a place in her second Grand Slam final after dramatically beating Elina Svitilina in their Australian Open quarterfinal.
Svitolina generated attention with two excellent victories to set up the match against Keys. The 30-year-old eliminated the two-time Grand Slam runner-up Jasmine Paolini before overcoming Veronika Kudermetova in straight sets.
Defeating the Russian Kudermetova was particularly sweet for Svitolina because her home country of Ukraine has been at war with Russia since the latter's illegal invasion in February 2022. She admitted to being more motivated for those matchups.
Svitolina knew she would need to survive many powerful serves and forehands to beat Keys, the 2017 US Open runner-up. The American defeated Elena Rybakina in the previous round, who split with coach Goran Ivanisevic after the loss.
Both women started by not missing any first serves in their opening service games. The only chance in the opening eight games was when Svitolina saw off two break points to hold for 3-2.
There was nothing Keys could have done on either of those chances. Svitolina saved the first with a clinical serve-and-forehand combination and then hit a big serve out wide to see off the second.
After being so comfortable in her opening three service games, Keys suddenly made a string of forehand unforced errors to get broken. Svitolina made no mistake in serving it out to take the opening set 6-3.
The first game of the second set was very important for Keys to halt Svitolina's momentum, whose counter-punching skills were drawing many mistakes at that stage. She saved a break point before eventually holding.
Svitolina fought off three break points in the fourth game. It seemed like Keys might have missed her chance to strike in the set after hitting a second serve into the net on one opportunity and was then left amazed by an incredible volley from Svitolina to save the third of those chances.
However, Keys' formidable ball-striking was rewarded in Svitolina's next service game. The 29-year-old crunched a forehand down the line to get her first break of the contest and move 4-2 ahead.
Keys kept her cool in her next two service games to win the set 6-3 and take the intriguing match into a decider. Aside from the one game where Keys got broken, both players performed excellently in the opening two sets.
After four relatively comfortable holds, Keys took advantage of Svitolina giving her several second-serves to attack in the fifth game. She moved 3-2 and a break ahead with a devastating backhand cross-court winner off one of those second serves.
Both women held their next service games before Svitolina missed an opening at 15-30 on keys' serve. She dropped a second-serve return too short from that position to give Keys a chance to win that point before holding to go 5-3 up.
Sviitolina forced Keys to serve it out by holding to 15, but Keys did not blink. The 2015 and 2022 Australian open semifinalist reached that stage for a third time by serving it out, overcoming the brave Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
