Madrid Open: Madison Keys upsets Coco Gauff to reach quarter-finals
Apr 29, 2024
Madrid [Spain], April 29 : Madison Keys on Monday scripted an epic comeback win against Coco Gauff 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Madrid Open to reach the quarterfinals.
Keys trailed 5-2 in the first set and 4-2 in the last set, but rallied in two hours and 30 minutes to beat Gauff for the third time in five career meetings.
Keys will next face former Madrid champion Ons Jabeur for a spot in her sixth career WTA 1000 semifinal.
With a combined total of 29 break-point opportunities in each other's service games during the match, both players had plenty of possibilities.
Although every players broke seven times, Gauff's 13 double faults in total--nearly a third of her 38 unintentional errors during the match--facilitated many of Keys' opportunities.
"I definitely had to stay tough. Being able to just stay calm and trust myself, and get myself out of tough sets was really important. I was just trying to take the opportunities when they presented themselves," Keys said afterwards as quoted by WTA.
Earlier, Mirra Andreeva, the newly-turned 17-year-old phenom, registered a fine comeback to defeat 12th seed Jasmine Paolini 7-6(2), 6-4 in the Round of 16 of the ongoing Madrid Open on Monday.
Andreeva will face either defending champion Aryna Sabalenka or No 15 Danielle Collins for a semifinal berth.
