Can anyone stop Madison Keys? Dominates Belinda Bencic and secures spot in Indian Wells semifinals

World No. 5 Madison Keys continues her flawless form, reaching 16 consecutive wins after thrashing Belinda Bencic. The recent Australian Open champion is in the best form of her career and gave no chances to her opponent.

A tight match was expected between the inspired Bencic, who has been one of the top performers of 2025, currently in the WTA Race top 10. However, the Swiss player faltered in this quarterfinal against the American, suffering a painful loss of 6-1, 6-1.

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First Set

Bencic started with serious serving issues, unable to land her first serves and quickly gave up an early break to her opponent. The American dominated, hitting powerful returns on Bencic's second serves and controlling the baseline rallies.

Although Bencic wasn’t playing badly, key moments decided the first set. The Tokyo 2021 gold medalist had a few break opportunities but couldn’t convert them. After some fiercely contested games, she dropped serve twice more in five break chances given to Keys, who surprisingly took a 5-0 lead. While Bencic managed to break back once, it was only a consolation as the set ended 6-1 in Keys’ favor after a fourth consecutive break.

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Second Set

At the start of the second set, it seemed like Bencic might find her footing and become more competitive. Despite not playing poorly in the first set, the wide scoreline didn’t reflect her level of play. She managed to defend her serve for the first time, but that was the only positive moment for her.

With the score at 2-1 in favor of the American, Keys completely took over, not just the score but the game itself. Bencic, still struggling with her movement, especially against Keys’ backhand and forehand, couldn’t compete. Keys took five consecutive games and wrapped up the win with another 6-1, 6-1 scoreline in just 1 hour and 5 minutes.

In the semifinals, she awaits the winner between World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, who face off Thursday night, March 3rd.

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