Elina Svitolina had a massive challenge on her hands that proved far too difficult in the fourth round of the US Open. Madison Keys was her biggest challenge to start and end her second week as she defeated the fourth seed in a 7-6(2),1-6, 6-4 match at Arthur Ashe Stadium on the grounds of the Billy Jean King National Tennis Center. It was the first time since 2002 that four American women made the quarterfinals and Keys’ game helped her accomplish that with numerous winners and ability to hold her game together at the right moments.
Both haven’t met in two years with the American getting a win over the Ukrainian at New Haven. In their 2015 US Open run they made it halfway or better but by 2017, the 22-year-old from Odessa showed the best potential. Her number four status in the WTA produced five titles and gotten her to the round of 16 for the very first time. With her being the only competitor left to take the world number one ranking, being able to deal with the talent and hard hitting of Keys would be a very high task to overcome. Both have dropped a set in three rounds but the path to a quarterfinal could likely take them far.
Keys began with her massive strikes on the ball that troubled Svitolina early. Her attempts to come back showed promise but the American closed the door to hold serve. Keys used the same tactics from her opening serve to get ahead on the break which produced a short winning streak. Another win came from various shots against the Ukrainian that finished with a well-placed drop shot that had her opening the gap wide on the fourth seed.
Needing a way to get into the match, Svitolina got her first serve to work making good ground strokes on the hard returns of Keys to make her send the ball long. A second double fault was committed putting her in a tough spot but got out of a jam with the hold. A service break gave her another step in the right direction with a chance to level the score in the sixth. Keys didn’t let that event happen as Svitolina watched Keys break her fully to regain her two-game margin.
The breaks went through seventh but by the eighth, Svitolina had her best chance to level the score. With good positioning, strong serve and great responses on Keys’ returns, she held the game with a statement that it was going to be a tough set for her opponent to take. The unforced errors were adding up on the American’s serve giving Svitolina break point. Keys set up her serve with a shot to the far corner setting her next return to be way out of reach. It led things to deuce with two breaks both going to the American where she served in the same spot to lead 5-4.
An important service hold for Svitolina allowed her to take the set deeper with Keys with a boost of confidence that she could win it. Keys made that difficult as she took the 11th with pressure on Svitolina to match or fall out of the set completely. She stayed alive with Keys making some errors on the returns that forced a tiebreak. Keys handled herself well as she took a 3-0 lead on winners.
The American got to five in a row before the fourth seed earned her first point. Svitolina managed another point but Keys scored set point ending 45 minutes. Both had a lopsided set with four winners and nine unforced errors for Svitolina and 19 winners and 23 unforced errors for Keys. With the American ahead in the match, finding more dictation in the second set would be essential to her benefit.
Keys showed comfort right away on her opening serve in the second but she didn’t expect to see Svitolina have the energy to fight back. It was just what the 22-year-old did to break her. She put together a strong service that gave her a momentum that surprised a good amount of the crowd. The Ukrainian took a 3-0 lead as unforced errors came back to haunt the young American.
Svitolina took advantage of her opponent’s second serve that helped her build up a commanding 4 game winning streak. It went to five in a row before Keys got herself to avoid the bagel against the fourth seed. Once Svitolina got the ball back, she finished off the set with a great hold that concluded 24 quick minutes to go all the way.
Keys knew that something from her game had to bring Svitolina to a halt in the deciding set. With hard work, she went to deuce with the Ukrainian where every ball and playing every point were critical to her. She played five breaks with the fourth seed before capping it with a hard-earned win on the AD to lead on serve. Svitolina had a similar opening serve but regulated the number of breaks that were played on deuce.
They remained deadlocked on service holds through four games until a threat from the fourth seed came on Key’s service game. She stopped the break to force deuce but the fatigue showed in her game that gave the Ukrainian the first lead of the third set. The American tried to even up in the sixth with a break chance but Svitolina put it on hold for the moment. It was two breaks later that the fourth seed who looked very energized secured her serve carrying a 4-2 hold with the match within reach.
Keys held in the seventh with her backhand coming into support her efforts to stay within a game of her opponent. She brought it together with another barrage of winning returns that set up a four all tie and very tension high moments for both players. Keys handled herself well on serve in the ninth where she had two game points on Svitolina to take the game and was a game away from reaching the quarters.
Svitolina’s first serve struggled in the tenth as Keys was determined to finish her off. Mistakes on the Ukrainian’s serve proved too costly as it handed Keys match point where she played every return like it was her last until a point where she dictated the pace and won it on a line drive winner ending two hours and two minutes.
Even with the victory, Keys had 52 unforced errors but her ability to match them with 46 winners were the key to holding her offensive serve together. It was enough to beat Svitolina on numerous occasions that led to the move into the next round where she’ll face Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi who is on a Cinderella run being ranked the highest at 418th in the world which will take place Wednesday.
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