Keys ousts Rybakina in Melbourne; sets quarter-final meeting with Svitolina

Continuing her hot start to the season, No.19 seed Madison Keys of the United States moved into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the fourth time in her career by crushing a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 win over No. 6 seed Elena Rybakina from Kazakhstan.

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Keys shook off a break in the second set to topple 2023 Australian Open finalist Rybakina in 1 hour 49 minutes and move ahead 3-2 in their head-to-head. Keys is now one win away from reaching her third Australian Open semi-final after reaching the last four here in 2015 and 2022.

“Obviously pretty good first set and I think I finished the third set really well,” Keys said in the presser. “There are some things I can take and learn from the middle of the match, but overall I’m really happy with how I was able to finish and close out that match.”

Keys will then take on no. 28-seeded Elina Svitolina in a quarter-final match. Svitolina came back from a double-break in the first set to roll past Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 at Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

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 Svitolina in the first round of the WTA 250 event in Adelaide in 2022, then went all the way to the title.

Keys’ winning streak extended: Keys did it again in Adelaide this year, winning the WTA 500 title in that city a week ago. The American is now on a nine-match winning streak, and she is the tour leader in match wins so far this year (10-1 overall win-loss record in 2025).

Keys, 29, brought her scintillating form into her marquee match against 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina. The 2017 US Open finalist won Rybakina 12 to nine in the first set, chipping away at the lone break point she faced in the opener.

Obviously, there would be a lot of momentum shifts in a match between two big hitters, and Rybakina completely took charge in the second set. The decisive third set was also very much at stake through 3-3.

But Keys regained her top form from there and produced massive comebacks for stymie Rybakina. A return winner gave Keys the crucial break for a 4-3 lead and she hit her 27th winner of the day to convert her second match point and reach her 11th Grand Slam quarter-final.

“At 3-3 (in the third set), I made a pretty conscious decision to really try to take advantage of everything I got as early as possible in the point,” Keys said. “I felt like from that moment on I was really able to dictate and run away with the last set.”

This was Keys’ first Top 10 win at a Grand Slam since back-to-back wins over Jessica Pegula and Marketa Vondrousova to reach the 2023 US Open semifinals.

Surging Svitolina: Former world no. 3 Svitolina, meanwhile, continues to rack up strong Grand Slam results. She is making her 12th career Grand Slam quarterfinal and her first quarterfinal at the Australian Open since 2019.

Nor has her Slam success slowed down since returning from maternity leave in 2023. This is Svitolina’s fourth Slam quarterfinal since giving birth to daughter Skai in 2022.

Svitolina reached back-to-back Australian Open quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019. She came close to making another quarterfinal Down Under last year, but withdrew in her fourth-round match against Linda Noskova due to a back injury.

The 30-year-old has passed another year in an already historic fortnight. With her second-round victory over Caroline Dolehide, Svitolina became the first Ukrainian player of any gender in the Open Era to win 100 main draws at Grand Slam events.

“All the four matches I played here, I’m really happy with my fitness,” Svitolina said afterwards. “I’m really happy with the way I’ve handled tough physical matches that I’ve had. Yeah, so far so good.”

It was a difficult start for Svitolina on Monday as a powerful stroke by the former world no. 9 Kudermetova gave the unseeded player a 4-1, double-break advantage. Incidentally, Kudermetova had won both of their previous meetings, each time in three sets.

However, Svitolina found some of her best shots – including great angles and outstanding passes – to reel off five straight games and grab a set lead. Kudermetova, meanwhile, had two visits from the physio in the latter stages of the first set.

Behind heavier returns, Svitolina took full command in the second set. A pristine volley gave the Ukrainian a 3-1 break and she eased to an 83-minute victory from there. Svitolina converted five of her nine break points on the day.

“It was difficult today at the beginning,” Svitolina said. “But I’m very proud of myself that I was able to find my way.”