Madison Keys stayed positive during a challenging match to come through it at the Western & Southern Open Wednesday. The American remained positive against Jelena Ostapenko, who made it difficult but erred too much in a 6-4, 7-5 result on Stadium 3 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center.
After a stunning win against Beatriz Haddad Maia, where she took the competition down, Ostapenko faced Keys for the fourth time. The American held the lead in their series despite dropping one due to injury at Eastbourne. In her opening round, she faced one breakpoint against Yulia Putintseva before coming out with a straight sets victory. While they never met on the hard courts, both had the skills to do work in Ohio. The 2019 champ looked to keep her path to another, while the Latvian wanted to surpass her third-round finish.
Keys jumped into a dominant pace through the first ten minutes of play, gaining a double break. On serve in the fourth, Keys mistimed some of her service shots, notching a double fault that brought up deuce. Ostapenko’s depth helped her get an error from Keys and make her way on the scoreboard. She consolidated the break with a hold in the fifth, sitting a game down from overcoming the deficit.
The American held the sixth to regain a two-game buffer on the 16th seed, who struggled to keep the errors down. She let Keys into her service but found a way to draw back errors from her opponent and contain the serve. The two moved forward, holding serves on the other, but once Keys had the lead at 5-4, she put all the focus on serving out the set. The American rallied to three set points, getting the first down in 40 minutes with a long return coming back her way from Ostapenko.
The second set saw Ostapenko take charge of her service, which she wanted more out of. Gaining breakpoint chances didn’t happen during two of Keys' service games, as the Latvian hit too hard and too long. She still led the American after five, using her two-handed forehand to get through deuce and deny Keys the breaks. After six holds of serve, the fight was on for Keys to convert a break against Ostapenko as they closed into the business end of the set.
She gained one at 40-30, but the Latvian struck back to force deuce. The fight was on as they went five breaks, with the American finding a way to strike down the breakpoint. On her fifth attempt, the 27-year-old found a piece of the court empty and landed a winner to take the lead away. It was a boost for Keys, who went into service in the eighth and doused Ostapenko to love.
The pressure was on the 16th seed to hold serve, but she smoothly took care of business to sit a game down, hoping to force the set further. She took advantage of the tense situation on the court and edged on the first break of deuce to level the score. With little left of the second set to play, the 11th game became a moment for either player to lead. Keys came out with a necessary break, earning her a second chance at the match.
Keys broke ahead from a 30-all situation on an error from Ostapenko, hitting long of the baseline. With two match points in hand, she nailed an ace with style to move into the third round after 1 hour and 35 minutes.
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