Madison Keys sends Rybakina on a rollercoaster Australian Open match | Australian Open 2025

Madison Keys upset sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in a roller-coaster match at Margaret Court Arena to march into the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Monday and extend her winning streak to nine matches this time around. year.

Adelaide Open champion Keys had lost to the Kazakh in their last two meetings but was well in control for most of the round of 16 match, ruling out a second-set upset as she dropped four games in a row. Rybakina appeared to be struggling with a lower back injury that had affected her in the third round, and Keys was able to play aggressively to neutralize her big serve and take control of the rallies.

“Her serve is such a weapon, so I knew if I could just try to make at least some of her service games a little bit competitive, then I had a chance,” said the 19th seed, who earned her third win over . a top-10 player this month. “So I basically just tried to do anything to get my racket back over the net, which worked sometimes.”

The decider was neck-and-neck early at 3-3 before Keys moved up a gear and sealed her place in the next round with a searing cross-court winner on her second match point. She will next play against Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina, who earlier on Monday beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1.

Rybakina has been playing under a cloud of uncertainty surrounding coach Stefano Vukov, whom she rehired earlier this month but was unable to obtain accreditation because he is provisionally suspended by the WTA pending the outcome of an investigation into a potential breach on its codex. conduct.

“Obviously, like I said before, it’s not the situation I want to be in or anybody wants to be in,” Rybakina said. “Of course I want who I want in the box, but I couldn’t change it. At the end of the day, I just tried to focus on my matches and I talked to him. I also have Goran (Ivanisevic), so it didn’t affect the way I played today or any of the results, I think.”

A ruthless Iga Swiatek, meanwhile, slammed the door on German lucky loser Eva Lys with a 6-0, 6-1 victory on Monday to cruise into the quarter-finals of the year’s opening Grand Slam for the second time. Five-time grand slam champion Swiatek entered the match having lost just 10 matches in the tournament and the Pole sent out another warning to his title rivals by dismantling Lys in 59 minutes at Rod Laver Arena.

“Great, it was my first night session and I’m glad I have the chance to play at Rod Laver Arena,” Swiatek said. “I enjoyed it, which is the most important thing … I’m still 23, so there’s a lot to improve. I don’t feel like I’m on top. But these fights give me a lot of confidence. We don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, maybe I’ll get better. I’m so happy I was able to play my game … I feel really comfortable and it’s going well.”

One of several searing forehand winners helped 2022 semi-finalist Swiatek break Lys for the first time and the 23-year-old did not take her foot off the accelerator as she closed out the first set in 24 minutes. World no. 128 Lys had enjoyed a historic run after she replaced Anna Kalinskaya in the main draw following a loss in the qualifiers, but there was only more suffering to come for the Kiev-born player.

Lys managed a smile and pumped her fist as she went up 40-30 after conceding the opening three games and soaked up the loud applause after getting on the board to ensure she would avoid the dreaded double bagel. Swiatek broke for the fifth time after a game of six deuces and served in style to book a last-eight meeting with Emma Navarro or Daria Kasatkina.