Madison Keys battles past Elena Vesnina - UBITENNIS

Madison Keys battles past Elena Vesnina

By Cody Fitzpatrick
3 Min Read

In a match that started just before midnight, recently crowned Stanford champion Madison Keys defeated Indian Wells winner Elena Vesnina 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 under the closed Arthur Ashe roof. 

With this win, Keys, the 15th seed, advances to the round of 16, where she’ll face No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina, who has won three WTA Premier 5 events this year.

Keys went down 30-40 in the first game of the match, but served an ace up the T to make it deuce. Vesnina then earned another break point, which she won when Keys netted a forehand. Vesnina consolidated by winning a 15-point game. She then broke again for 3-0 on a Keys-shanked forehand.

In the next game, Vesnina, after saving two break points, double-faulted on Keys’s AD. Keys then held to love, keeping the set close with Vesnina leading by 3-2 and only one break.

But Vesnina later broke again for 5-2 on a bad Keys backhand. The Russian went on to put the set away with a forehand winner.

“I definitely didn’t show up very well for the first set,” Keys said on court after the match.

To start Act II, Keys fought off a break point with an ace. At 1-1, she saved four more break points, the second with an ace out wide and the third with a crosscourt backhand winner.

Keys then broke Vesnina by making her miss a backhand volley, and, in the game that followed, battled back from 15-40 for a 4-1 lead. Vesnina put the set back on serve, though, holding and then breaking by lobbing Keys from her backhand.

Vesnina, serving from down 4-5, saved a set point, but immediately afterward handed Keys another one, which she lost by netting a forehand. This gave Keys the second set and forced a decider.

“I think finally just settled in,” Keys said of the start of her comeback.

In the third set, Keys got out to a 5-0 lead before Vesnina finally managed to get a game.

Up 5-1, Keys had a match point, but lost it by letting a backhand go long. But she set up another match point with a forehand winner down the line. This time, she won it when Vesnina netted a backhand.

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