By Richard Pagliaro | Monday, August 8, 2016
Pained by an aching rib, Madison Keys won the final four points edging Kristina Mladenovic, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), in the longest match of the Rio Olympics.
Photo credit: ITF Olympic Tennis
Coping with a nagging aching rib injury wasn't even the worst of Madison Keys' challenges today. Keys confronted persistent pain posed by Kristina Mladenovic and spiking tie break pressure in the final set.
Keys faced it all with a determined calm.
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The 21-year-old American won the final four points edging Mladenovic, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), in the longest match of these Rio Olympics.
A draining duel spanned three hours, 14 minutes, which is one minute longer than Kirsten Flipkens' first-round upset of Venus Williams.
Keys, who took treatment for a rib injury in the second set, was twice two points from elimination—serving at 4-5 in the decider and down 5-3 in the final tie break—competed with defiance fighting into the third round.
"Today was really tough," Keys told Bravo Network's Trenni Kusnierek afterward. "I definitely wasn't playing my best tennis. I just kept fighting... Every time I had a chance I was trying to get back into it. Luckily, at the end, I kind of fought my way into it.
"Obviously, I'm really happy how I was able to compete and I think that's what got me through today."
This third meeting between aggressive baseliners provided some plot twists. Mladenovic asserted her game midway through the opening set only to donate the set with successive double faults.
In the second set, Keys felt her rib moving into a very awkward area prompting her to take treatment from the trainer.
"I felt like one of my ribs maybe moved up a bit and was kind of in my ear," Keys said. "It wasn't comfortable, but I'm feeling better now."
Still, Keys crunched a backhand pass to snatch the mini break and a 2-1 tie break lead in the second set. She stretched the lead to 4-1. But a series of errors, including a timid backhand drop shot into net, helped spark a Mladenovic rally for 5-4.
A resilient Mladenovic reeled off six straight points, closing the second set to level when Keys ballooned a forehand beyond the baseline.
Fighting back from triple break point, Keys navigated a tricky hold for 1-all in the decider.
The reigning Roland Garros doubles champion continued to apply pressure on Keys' serve. Serving at 3-4, the American saved a break point with a big second serve and backhand down the line, eventually holding.
Mladenovic stamped her second straight love hold then ratcheted up the pressure in the 10th game. Three times, the Frenchwoman was two points from victor at deuce and three times Keys came back, finally hammering a forehand pass to hold for 5-all at the three-hour mark.
Two straight tight forehands from Keys followed by a Mladenovic forehand winner down the line gave the Frenchwoman a 5-3 tie break lead.
Fortune favored Keys as her forehand crashed into the top of the tape and trickled over. Instead of match point it was 4-5.
Empowered, Keys drilled a serve winner down the middle then cranked an ace for match point. Mladenovic's inside-out forehand narrowly missed the mark as a weary Keys raised her arms beaming after a three hour, 14-minute struggle.
Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro, who knocked off former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic in her opener then set down Croatian Ana Konjuh, 7-6 (5), 6-3, will face Keys in the third round. Keys has won both prior meetings against the 12th-ranked Spaniard, including a 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3) win on the grass of Birmingham in June.
It was a tough day for France as Caroline Garcia, who partnered Mladenovic to win the French Open doubles title, fell to Briton Johanna Konta, 6-2, 6-3.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova crushed Caroline Wozniacki, 6-2, 6-4.
Puerto Rico's Monica Puig surprised 14th-seeded Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-3, 6-2. Puig will play either reigning Roland Garros champion Garbine Muguruza or Nao Hibino next.
World No. 2 Angelique Kerber snapped a three-match losing streak to Genie Bouchard, converting four of 12 break points in a 6-4, 6-2 victory. Kerber came back from a 1-4 deficit, winning 11 of the final 13 games.
The Australian Open champion will take on either Samantha Stosur or Misaki Doi in round three.
Rising Russian Daria Kasatkina dismissed Saisai Zheng, 6-1, 6-4.