Madison Keys celebrates after winning her women's singles quarterfinal match at the 2018 US Open on Sept. 5, 2018 Flushing, N.Y.
Madison Keys, the highest remaining women’s seed in the US Open, joined fellow American Serena Williams in the semifinals after beating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 6-3 on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old Olympian has made it into the quarterfinals in three of four Grand Slams this year and this will be her second appearance in the semifinals. She lost to Sloane Stephens in the semis of the French Open back in June.
The No. 14 seed was last year’s US Open runner-up, losing to Stephens in the final, the only Grand Slam final appearance of her career. Keys will face Japan’s Naomi Osaka, the No. 20 seed, in the semifinal.
Keys and Suarez Navarro met three times previously, with Keys winning all three matches in three sets. Despite some unforced errors by both players early in the first set, Keys and Suarez Navarro both held serve until the final game. With Suarez Navarro serving, the Spaniard took a 30-0 lead, but after a service error allowed Keys back in, she fought back to win a second set point and take the set, 6-4.
Again in the second set, both players’ service games held strong, but then in the sixth game Keys broke Suarez Navarro for the second time to take a 4-2 lead. Suarez Navarro closed to 5-3 and fought to just her second break point of the match in the ninth game, but Keys came back and after Suarez Navarro’s return sailed wide she clenched her fist in celebration.
Karen Price is a reporter from Pittsburgh who has covered Olympic sports for various publications. She is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
