American Madison Keys is two match wins away from her first major title and has made it to the U.S. Open semifinals.
Keys, seed 17, defeated Czech Republic’s Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 6-4, 6-1, on Wednesday.
In her sixth Grand Slam semifinal, Keys, who is 28 years old, beats the soon-to-be No. 1 Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday.
Sabalenka, who started the week as the No. 1 positioning interestingly, contacted her fifth continuous significant semi with a 6-1, 6-4 win over 23rd seed Zheng Qinwen of China.
Almost a completely different match tomorrow,” Keys said, referencing the different styles of Vondrousova and Sabalenka. “There’s a reason she’s No. 1 in the world. … It’s going to be a lot of hard hitting. Not a lot of long points. Honestly, just going to try to buckle up and get as many balls back as I can.”
The only singles player in the tournament who has yet to lose a set is Sabalenka, the winner of the Australian Open. She additionally cleared Keys in the Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Keys finished second to countrywoman Sloane Stephens at the U.S. Open in 2017, her deepest major run. She also reached the French Open and Australian Open semifinals.
Sabalenka is the main lady left in the draw who is positioned higher than American Coco Gauff. In the preliminary round on Thursday, sixth-seeded Gauff faces Czech Karolina Muchova, who finished second at the French Open.
Additionally, No. 3 men’s seed Daniil Medvedev unloaded No. In an all-Russian quarterfinal, Medvedev’s daughter’s godfather, Andrey Rublev, won 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
He will face either No. 1 seed and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz in the semifinals on Friday. 12 German Alexander Zverev
