American Keys knocks off No. 1 Swiatek in Cincy

Tennis

MASON, Ohio — American Madison Keys upset No. 1 Iga Swiatek 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the Western & Southern Open quarterfinals.

Swiatek, a two-time Grand Slam champion, hasn’t gotten past the round of 16 in four tournaments since winning the French Open in June.

The win was the 24th-ranked Keys’ first in six matches against a top-ranked opponent. She had never won a set against a No. 1 player.

After dropping the first set and losing the first five games of the second, Swiatek rallied to win four straight, fighting off one match point before Keys clinched with a forehand winner to the ad court off a shot that clipped the net.

Swiatek won her first two matches against Keys, including 6-1, 6-0 this year at Indian Wells.

“Obviously, there were a couple of games where I had match point,” Keys said in an on-court interview. “She beat me pretty badly the last time we played, so I was happy to get the win.”

Keys is scheduled to next meet Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, who easily advanced with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Alison Riske-Amritraj.

Defending US Open champion and 10th-seeded Emma Raducanu, who earlier beat Serena Williams in what likely was Williams’s second-last career event, fell to seventh-seeded Jessica Pegula, 7-5, 6-4.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova advanced to the women’s quarterfinals with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 win over 2022 Wimbledon finalist and fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur.

No. 1 Daniil Medvedev advanced to the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 7-5 win over Denis Shapovalov. Medvedev is trying to shake off a second-round loss to Nick Kyrgios last week in Montreal and hone his game for the upcoming US Open.

“In general, I managed to be pretty constant,” Medvedev said. “I got a lot of break opportunities. I served pretty well, even in the game where I lost my serve. In general, I’m happy with my level and looking forward to the next matches.”

Medvedev will meet 11th-seed Taylor Fritz, who edged sixth-seeded Andrey Rublev, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 7-5.

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