Photo credit: BNP Paribas Open Facebook
Long-distance duels don’t fluster Madison Keys as much these days.
Keys squandered four match points and a 5-3 second-set lead.
Then the Australian Open champion regrouped repelling Elise Mertens 6-2, 6-7(8), 6-4 in a two hour, 48-minute marathon to reach the Indian Wells round of 16.
It is Keys’ 14th consecutive victory and did not come easy.
“It’s always tough when you feel like you’re not playing your best tennis against someone who’s really tricky,” Keys said. “Definitely really frustrating, lots of ups and downs.
"It's just about surviving."
Though Keys put herself in position for a straight-sets win, Mertens, who beat Keys at the 2024 US Open, showed her stubborn spirit saving the four match points then lacing an ace to force the final set.
The 30-year-old Keys reset and broke for a 4-3 third-set lead.
On her sixth match point, Keys closed, improving her 2025 record to 16-2—tied with Clara Tauson for most wins on Tour this year.
At the end of the second set, Keys' kick serve eluded her. She hit 12 double faults, but saved 12 of 15 break points.
"I think after today, definitely hope to have a better serving day," Keys said. "I think today there were moments where I was playing really well and getting ahead, getting a lead, and then letting her back in and giving her the opportunity to get back into the match.
"I think just being a little bit cleaner as far as that goes."
Keys will face either compatriot Emma Navarro or 19th-seeded Donna Vekic for a quarterfinal spot.
Exploiting a couple of Mertens double faults, Keys gained break point in the fourth game. Keys cranked a drive that ricocheted off the top of the tape and fell inside the baseline. That fortuitous bounce gave Keys the break and a 3-1 lead.
The 28th-seeded Mertens came right back to earn triple break point.
That’s when Keys found her first serve. Keys generates more juice on her forehand than most—including Mertens—and showed it jolting a series of heavy forehands. Keys erased all three break points, holding to back up the break for 4-1 after 23 minutes.
Keys was crunching heavy forehands faster than 80 mph persistently pushing the Belgian back behind the baseline.
A skittish Mertens double faulted twice in the eighth game but fended off a pair of break points.
On her third break point, Keys rattled out an error snatching a one-set lead after 41 minutes. Keys saved all six break points she faced in the set.
Wearing white adhesive taping wrapping her right thigh, Mertens was under assault from the Keys return game at the start of the second set.
The Belgian buckled up and fought off six break points in a game that spanned 12 minutes.
The seventh break point was the charm for Keys, who ran around a backhand return and zapped a diagonal forehand return winner. Keys thrust her arms in the air after that draining game breaking for a one set, 2-0 lead.
A three-time Indian Wells doubles champion, Mertens is comfortable in all areas of the court. Consistency is an essential element of the Belgian’s game and she applied it, locking down to coax a Keys backhand error and earn her first break for 2-3.
Mertens put together her most productive stretch of the match, leveling then earning two more break points in the seventh game.
Keys erased both break points–-by then she’d saved nine of 10 break points—then banged a backhand crosscourt capping a demanding game to hold for 4-3.
When Keys has time to unload on the forehand it’s still one of the most damaging strokes on Tour.
Accelerating through her forehand, Keys extended her Yonex racquet out through the target flashing a forehand a lunging Mertens could not handle. The Australian Open champion scored her fourth break for 5-3.
Serving for the match, Keys ballooned a couple of kick serves long, looked unsettled squandering two match points. Keys double faulted on the first match point, netted a forehand pass on the second match point, then pasted a passing shot into net as Mertens broke back for 4-5.
Still struggling to control her kick serve to the ad side, Keys endured a double-fault dilemma in the 11th game hammering a forehand down the line that helped her hold for 6-5.
A stubborn Mertens saw Keys was jittery and wisely made her play.
Keys earned a third match point at 6-5, but badly sprayed a backhand down the line wide. On her fourth match point at 7-6 Keys sent a return long.
A calm Mertens was placing her backhand in the corners. She swept a crosscourt backhand winner for a second set point at 9-8.
Whipping her first ace of the match out wide, Mertens wrapped the second set, saving four match points along the way, to force a decider after two hours, two minutes.
Credit Keys for regrouping and remaining a perfect 9-0 in three-setters this season.