By Chris Oddo | Wednesday September 5, 2018
Madison Keys remained perfect against Carla Suarez Navarro and booked her fourth career semifinal with a straight-sets win on Day 10.
Photo Source: Julian Finney
Madison Keys is proving to be a consistent force at the majors, and a major force at this year’s U.S. Open.
The 23-year-old American powered past Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4, 6-3, to reach her second consecutive U.S. Open final and book a highly anticipated with 20-year-old Naomi Osaka.
Keys improved to 22-4 at the majors since the beginning of last year’s U.S. Open, a tournament that saw her reach the final at a major for the first time, and though she has lacked consistency at the smaller tour-level events, she has continued to impress at the majors, reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open and the semifinals at Roland Garros before returning to the last four here in New York.
Keys saved the only break point she faced in the first set and took advantage of her fourth break point in the opener, cracking a forehand winner into the open court to steal away with the opening set in the tenth game.
Like the first set, the second was close, but Suarez Navarro was broken in the sixth game when the constant pressure of the Keys return game paid off and elicited a backhand error from the Spaniard.
Suarez Navarro, seeking her first Grand Slam semifinal in her seventh quarterfinal appearance, did have one small window to change the momentum. With Keys serving for the match at 5-3 she double-faulted on her first match point. The Spaniard one the next point but couldn’t convert the break as Keys won the final three points to clinch her victory in one hour and 23 minutes.
Keys improves to 4-0 lifetime against Suarez Navarro, and she hopes to do the same against Osaka in the semis. The American has defeated the rising star in all three of their meetings, including a dramatic comeback victory in New York in 2016, when Keys rallied from 5-1 down in the third to win.
But Osaka has matured quite a bit in the two intervening seasons. She is now a Top 20 player and won her first Premier Mandatory tournament at Indian Wells this season. Here at the U.S. Open she has turned heads with power and poise—she won 22 consecutive games at one point in the tournament and three of her five victories have come in under an hour.
Keys still has the experience gap over Osaka, who has reached her first major semifinal this week, but it is closing. On Thursday, she’ll hope to keep her aura and find her way into her second consecutive U.S. Open final.
Serena Williams and Anastasija Sevastova will play the other semifinal on Thursday. The double-header will begin at 7 PM on Arthur Ashe Stadium.