Western & Southern Open Women's Final Preview: Number 16 seed Keys to face wildcard finalist Kuznetsova

Number 16 seed Madison Keys will begin the final as favourite; but against a very experienced operator in Svetlana Kuznetsova who was given a wildcard after injury troubles but has had an excellent run this week at the Western & Southern Open.

Keys is into her second final of the season; but her first on the hard-courts since 2017 and she defeated Sofia Kenin in the semi-finals who has just came off a brilliant run in the Rogers Cup.

The American admitted that she found her groove and that after that she figured out how she wanted to play.

"I think at the end I really kind of found my groove and figured out how I wanted to play the points," Keys said after the match.

"I think in the second set she started returning really well and taking things really early. Seemed like she was really seeing it. I kind of just had to really focus in on my return games and put the same amount of pressure on her."

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Thoughts on Kuznetsova

Keys also gave her reaction to facing off against the Russian in the final; she said that while she hasn't seen that much of her game this week that to get to this position; she is obviously playing well.

She also added that Kuznetsova isn't the norm in terms of players she will face; due to her variety of shots and that as a result it won't be an easy final by any means.

"She's obviously been playing well. I haven't gotten to see a ton of what she is doing this tournament, but in order for her to be in this position, she's obviously playing some really good tennis," Keys said of the Russian.

"I think she's an interesting person to play because she's not the norm on the tour. You know, she plays with a little bit more spin. She likes to slice. She has a lot of variety. I'm definitely going to have to watch for that tomorrow."

Kuznetsova rolls back the years in Cincinnati

Kuznetsova has shown vintage form throughout this week and after cruising past Ashleigh Barty is set to face the American in the final; the Russian ace said after defeating the World Number 2 that she is really pleased to reach the final.

"I'm really happy," Kuznetsova said, in her post-match press conference. "I'm not really an analysing person, but somehow, like, on my intuition, I'm doing so much better, not repeating so many of my mistakes.

"Just playing smarter and wiser now. At 34 [years old] I should start, I think," the Russian smiled.

The former World Number 2 also gave her thoughts on her final opponent; she said that she is tough and that when she is on, it is a really tough tie.

"Madison is extremely tough," Kuznetsova admitted. "When she's on fire, it's really hard to play against her.

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