Madison Keys returns a shot during her women's singles third round match against Sofia Kenin at the 2019 US Open on Aug. 30, 2019 in New York.
Four American women, including No. 8 Serena Williams and No. 10 Madison Keys, are among the final 16 as the US Open wrapped up its third round on Saturday.
Keys, who is coming off a win at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, swept past rising star and fellow American Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 on Friday night for her ninth consecutive victory. Kenin was seeded No. 20.
Now Keys, a 2016 Olympian, will aim to make it 10 wins in a row for the first time in her career on Sunday when she faces fifth-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. A victory in that match would send Keys to the quarterfinals for the third year in a row. She lost in the 2017 US Open final to Olympic teammate Sloane Stephens and made it to the semifinals last year, losing to Naomi Osaka of Japan.
Keys is a powerful server who had 10 aces to Kenin’s two.
However, she fought off a stomach illness Friday to win her match and had to call for a medical timeout at one point.
“I was super nauseous,” Keys told tennis.com. “I won’t give you the gory details.”
Four-time Olympic gold medalist Williams defeated Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 on Friday. She meets No. 22 Petra Martic of Croatia on Sunday afternoon.
The match comes on the 2-year birthday of her daughter, Olympia. Williams is attempting to win a Grand Slam singles title for a record-tying 24th time, and her first since giving birth.
Also in the women’s round of 16 are Taylor Townsend, an unseeded player who is ranked 116th in the world, and Kristie Ahn, who is ranked No. 141 and was born in 1992 in Flushing Meadows, New York, home of the US Open.
Townsend defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday. Ahn defeated Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 6-3, 7-5. If both Townsend and Ahn win their matches Monday, they would meet in the quarterfinals.
While their runs continue, Coco Gauff’s ended Saturday. The 15-year-old sensation, who made a run to the fourth round at Wimbledon earlier this summer, ran into top-seeded Osaka, the defending champ, and fell 6-3, 6-0.
All three remaining U.S. men lost in the third round.
John Isner, a 2012 Olympian who was seeded No. 14, fell to No. 22 Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 on Saturday. Denis Kudla, an unseeded U.S. player, had the misfortune of running into top-seeded Novak Djokovic of Serbia on Friday, losing 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. And on Saturday, Tennys Sandgren lost to No. 20 Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-4, 6-1, 6-3.
Paul D. Bowker has been writing about Olympic sports since 1996, when he was an assistant bureau chief in Atlanta. He is a freelance contributor to TeamUSA.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.
