Melbourne, Jan 20 (IANS) No. 19 seed American Madison Keys moved into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the fourth time in her career by ousting No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan on Monday.
Keys shook off a second-set lull to topple 2023 Australian Open finalist Rybakina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in 1 hour and 49 minutes. The American is now a win away from reaching her third semifinal at Melbourne Park, having made the final four here in 2015 and 2022.
Keys, who won the WTA 500 title in Adelaide a week ago, is now on a nine-match winning streak, and she is the tour leader in match wins so far this year with an overall win-loss record of 10-1 in 2025, according to WTA stats.
The 29-year-old American will now take on No. 28 seed Elina Svitolina, who came back from a double-break down in the first set to roll past Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 in Rod Laver Arena earlier.
The 2017 US Open finalist Keys has a narrow 3-2 head-to-head lead over Svitolina. Their last meeting came almost exactly three years ago, also in Australia — Keys beat then-No. 2 seed Svitolina in the first round of the WTA 250 event at Adelaide in 2022 and went all the way to the title.
Svitolina reached back-to-back Australian Open quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019. Last year, Svitolina came into the Australian Open in strong form but was forced to retire from her fourth-round match against Linda Noskova after just three games due to a back injury.
She would struggle with various physical issues throughout the season, which she cut short after the US Open to undergo foot surgery. This is the first tournament following that procedure.
–IANS
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