(Photo credit score: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images)
If Twenty second-seeded Madison Keys makes a deep run within the U.S. Open, tennis followers would possibly seek advice from Thursday’s match on raucous Court 17 as ‘The Madison Miracle.’
The 2017 runner-up rallied from a 5-2 third-set deficit, staving off 5 match factors to edge Hungary’s Anna Bondar, 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in a second-round contest in New York.
‘Yeah, that was… that was one thing, huh?,’ mentioned Keys, elated however exhausted, within the on-court interview after the match. ‘No stress, although. We all knew I had it, proper? I imply you guys bought me by way of that match and I’m so grateful.’
Bondar double-faulted on her first two match-clinching alternatives at 5-2. Keys then broke serve, however Bondar earned three further match factors within the subsequent sport. Again, she did not convert.
Keys broke Bondar at like to even the set at 5-5, however later fell behind 5-3 within the 10-point match-deciding tiebreaker. Keys then rattled off 4 unanswered factors and later the ultimate three to advance to the third spherical in just below three hours.
In one other three-setter, Japan’s Naomi Osaka, seeded No. 13, knocked off Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic, 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.
Osaka gave the impression to be on cruise management, main 6-2, 4-2, however dropped three consecutive service video games to ship the match to a 3rd set.
But the 2018 and 2020 champion in New York hit 11 winners to solely 5 unforced errors within the decider to oust the world’s top-ranked doubles participant.
‘I simply informed myself that it is an honor to play on this court docket,’ mentioned Osaka in her on-court interview after the match. ‘I do not know what number of … I do not know, I’m enjoying two matches back-to-back on this court docket. It’s a giant honor for me. I simply wanna hold enjoying in entrance of you guys if attainable. Just attempt to combat as greatest as I can.’
Tenth-seeded Amanda Anisimova additionally needed to go the space to topple 18-year-old Lilli Tagger of Austria. The 2025 runner-up prevailed, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.
Austria’s Anastasia Potopova, the No. 24 seed, outlasted France’s Leolia Jeanjean, 6-4, 2-6, 6-3.
The different 4 seeds in motion on Thursday afternoon skilled extra simple matches.
Poland’s eighth-seeded Iga Swiatek the 2022 U.S. Open champion, routed Argentina’s Nadia Podoroska 6-3, 6-2; No. 23 Elise Mertens of Belgium defeated Uzbekistan’s Maria Timofeeva 6-2, 7-6 (5); and No. 25 Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic dismantled Great Britain’s Harriet Dart 6-2, 6-2.
Alexandra Eala, the feeling from the Philippines, bought previous Ukraine’s Oleksandra Oliynykova 6-1, 6-4. The Seventeenth-seeded Eala, who performed at Louis Armstrong Stadium, gained 11 of 14 internet factors and gained 27 of fifty factors on her opponent’s serve.
–Field Level Media