Madison Keys records first win of season at Qatar Total Open

Belinda Bencic struggled with the first service that caused the door to shut her out of the Qatar Total Open Tuesday night. The Swiss star faced a hungry Madison Keys who fired terrific winners from both sides of her swing to win 6-4, 6-1 on centre court at the Khalifa International Tennis Centre. It marked the American’s first win this season in a solid performance in Doha. 

The two met six years ago in Eastbourne where Bencic while at the top of her game etched out a win for herself to even up the series with Keys. Fast forward to this season, the American missed a lot of time after contracting the Coronavirus, missing out on the Australian Open. With time off the court, she faced the Swiss star who came up short against Iga Swiatek at the last tournament held in Australia. Her loss came with eight double faults which was a sign of weakness that Keys would pounce upon. With her hungry for any sort of victory, the 26-year-old hoped to have her skills in check through the first set. 

She did indeed as the first serve found well-placed points across the net to Bencic for the hold of serve. She answered back in the second with great returns, earning the break to consolidate. Keys backed up the two with a third game win, showing comfort on her service with eight of ten successful so far. Bencic got on the board with a hold in the fourth, laying down a place to build upon. 

Keys answered back while under pressure from the sixth seed, forcing deuce on serve before getting out of trouble holding the first AD point chance. Bencic added another hold that upped her offense which soon challenged the American. Keys faced further adversity from Bencic who dialed in the forehand but battled errors along the way. It gave Keys a chance on deuce where she denied the Swiss star breakpoint and took the seventh with the AD point captured. Despite missed opportunities for the sixth seed, the 23-year-old powered through to continue holding service games. 

With her game well in place, Bencic went on the attack of Keys, jumping ahead on the score and went on to take the break. She was back in reach of a tie in the tenth game working hard on serve. Errors helped Keys get to deuce where after two breaks, the American got it done in 41 minutes scoring a winner to the left of Bencic. Wins from the first serve were key for the American who won 61 percent from her end, while the sixth seed managed 49 and struggled to win from the second serve. 

Keys opened the second with a hold to love and hunted through every point for the break of Bencic. Once she had a second service hold under her belt, the American went on the prowl taking the fourth away from the Swiss. The fifth was a tough one to hold for the American as Bencic found ways of digging into the game, forcing deuce and making it a difficult journey. While it only took two breaks for Keys to win, the game, she knew that upping the ante was needed to get out of trouble. 

Keys answered Bencic with two big forehand returns, watched an error bring up triple set point and laid out a backhand winner for the 5-1 lead. Serving for the match, Keys comfortably reached match point, scoring an ace down the T to take out Bencic in one hour and four minutes.