Photo credit: Julian Finney/Getty
Shadow swallowed the red clay as Madison Keys faced dire dilemma and multiple match points.
Keys conjured courageous strikes torching trouble in a fiery comeback win.
In a clash of Grand Slam champions, Keys fought off three match points out-dueling Sofia Kenin 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to fight into the Roland Garros fourth round.
The American Advance in Paris continues.
For the first time in 40 years, eight Americans—five women and three men—have advanced to the Roland Garros round of 16.
American men Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe all landed fourth round spots yesterday.
Today, American women soared even higher.
The reigning Australian Open champion Keys scored her 10th consecutive major match win and it did not come easy.
Playing catch-up much of the match, Keys came from 0-3 down in the decider.
Serving at 4-5, Keys denied all three match points. On the second, Keys held her ground in a seven-shot rally drawing a Kenin error.
The Kenin two-handed backhand is a sturdy weapon that helped her gain a third match point.
Seven years after her run to the French Open final four, the seventh-seeded Keys is making tracks toward another possible semifinal.
Keys joins second-seeded Coco Gauff, third-seeded Jessica Pegula, 16th-seeded Amanda Aminisimova and her fourth-round opponent, Hailey Baptiste as one of five American women into the round of 16 in Paris.
Earlier, Gauff whipped 32 winners in a 6-1, 7-6(3) win over Marie Bouzkova The 2022 French Open finalist Gauff says red clay is her best surface and has not dropped a set through three rounds. Gauff faces a tough fourth-round test in 20th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The third-seeded Pegula sped through the final four games fending off 2023 Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the Roland Garros fourth round.
It is Pegula’s second French Open fourth round appearance in the last three years.
The 2023 quarterfinalist has the flat strokes—and favorable draw—to go deeper.
Next up for Pegula is a fourth-round meeting with French Cinderella story and world No. 361 Lois Boisson. Meanwhile, Baptiste, who can spin the ball into confounding corners, has emerged as one of the most exciting Americans in the bunch.
Today, Baptiste boomed into her maiden major fourth round with fierce serving.
Baptiste won 25 of 29 first-serve points, rocked four aces and faced only one break point defeating Jessica Bouzas Maneiro 7-6(4), 6-1.
It is Baptiste’s 14th win of the season—eight have come on clay.
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Watch her play and you can see why: Baptiste has a tremendous topspin forehand, when she’s timing it right, can slide the low slice into obscure areas and can dictate with the serve-forehand combination. Today, Baptiste’s average first-serve speed was 111 mph and her average second-serve speed was 91 mph—that is just three miles an hour slower than her opponent’s first-serve speed.
The 30-year-old Keys has won two of three meetings vs. the 23-year-old Baptiste, who said friendship bites the dust—during the match—when they face off Monday.
“I feel like we don’t have friends on the court, right?” Baptiste told TNT analyst Sam Querrey after reaching her maiden major fourth round. “When we get off [court], we can laugh, but when we go out there I’m trying to kill everyone I’m playing.
“And I can’t think about who’s on the other side.”
Grand Slam champions showed their skills on both sides of the net for the Keys-Kenin duel.
If you’ve followed Kenin’s adventurous career, you know how gutted she must feel after coming achingly close to her first Grand Slam fourth round since the 2021 French Open fourth round.
The 2020 French Open finalist Kenin put herself in position to win today, but was fighting herself and Keys. As tension tightened, Kenin showed the stress smacking her blue Babolat off the dirt, kicking the victim stick, smacking her hand off her thigh and sometimes barking at her dad and coach in the box.
Across the net, Keys, who once had a reputation for coming up skittish in major moments, kept calm and kept swinging big even down match points.
Though serving control escaped her at times, Kenin showed serve accuracy when she needed it confirming the break for a 3-0 lead in the decider.
Two games later, Keys pressured Kenin’s serve again. Stepping inside the court, Keys crunched a backhand return down the line breaking back in the fifth game.
That strike empowered Keys, who won three games in a row to level the final set after six games.
Serving at 4-5, Keys made that stirring stand.
Showing guts and belief in her sometime wayward backhand down match point number three, Keys stood toe-to-toe and beat Kenin in that backhand duel blistering a backhand crosscourt winner. When Kenin’s forehand went long, Keys held for 5-all screaming “come on!”
The moment cost Kenin, whose forehand fell apart. Kenin sailed a wild, wayward forehand as Keys broke for 6-5.
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Slashing successive aces helped Keys earn match points. On her second match point, Keys cranked the T serve capping a two hour, 20-minute fightback. Keys hammered eight aces against just one double fault, which came in that long 4-5 service game.
The winner of the all-American Keys-Baptiste battle ensures one American will reach the last eight. The Keys-Baptiste winner will play either Gauff or Alexandrova for a semifinal spot.