Elena Rybakina (No. 4) overcame Madison Keys (No. 17) and advances at the Miami Open. The 2022 Wimbledon champion admitted she's not in her best form, considering her withdrawal from the Dubai Open and later pulling out of Indian Wells where she was defending the trophy.
Nevertheless, she put up a strong performance against the American star, who usually shows consistency on the WTA Tour and returned to competition in Indian Wells after missing the entire start of the season. This week, Keys secured consecutive victories against Diana Shnaider (6-2, 6-4) and Wang Xinyu (6-4, 7-6) before facing the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
In the early stages of the match, Keys struggled to maintain her service but managed to hold it, saving several break points against her. On the other hand, Rybakina was impeccable on serve, with a 77% first-serve rate and winning 79% of those points.
With the score at 4-3 in favor of Rybakina, she capitalized on her fifth set point to secure a break, which proved to be enough to take the lead at 6-3.
The second set started well for Rybakina, who again generated a couple of break points and converted one in the third game to lead 3-1. Everything seemed to be going smoothly for the Kazakh, but Keys managed to break back to level at 3-3 with her serve.
Despite Keys serving above 80% on her first serve throughout the set, she couldn't hold her serve when the score was 5-5, and Rybakina secured the decisive break to then close out the match 6-3, 7-5.
In the quarterfinals, she will face the 8th seed Maria Sakkari, who advanced by walkover after the withdrawal of Anna Kalinskaya (22nd seed). The Greek player is currently enjoying her best form in several months after reaching the final of Indian Wells a week ago.
Rybakina d. Keys 6-3 6-4 With how little tennis Elena’s played this past month, the level she showed today was so impressive. Her game is just so uncomplicated. ✅20-3 in 2024 ✅Won 8 of last 9 matches in Miami ✅6th QF of 2024 Easy, natural, silky smooth tennis. 🇰🇿🩵🇰🇿
