Madison Keys knocks Elena Rybakina out of the Australian Open in a three-set match

MELBOURNE, Australia – Madison Keys has beaten Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion and No. 6 in Melbourne, out of the Australian Open.

Keys, a two-time semifinalist in Australia, beat Rybakina, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3. Rybakina had four break points to take a 2-0 lead in the deciding set after cruising through the second, but Keys saved all four. The 29-year-old American then broke Rybakina’s serve at the first attempt in the following game; she gave up the break before repeating the trick later in the set and serving out.

Rybakina, 25, was hampered by a back injury in her third-round win over No. 32 seed Dayana Yastremska but appeared to move more smoothly against Keys and said it did not affect the result.

Keys, seed no. 19, said in her press conference that she got “nervous” during the second set, but credited her work in the offseason for turning things around.

“My instinct is to kind of back up and try to play it safe, but that usually doesn’t get me very far,” she said. “Today I think I thought a lot, especially in the latter part of the third set, and really made the conscious decision to try to be a little bit more aggressive and try to take the initiative more.”

Rybakina’s defeat ends a tournament in which her coaching situation has been at the center. On the eve of the tournament, the WTA confirmed it had suspended Rybakina’s former coach, Stefano Vukov, pending a code of conduct investigation. Vukov has been banned from training and entering the court for any WTA tennis event which Athletics reported earlier this month.

Rybakina confirmed she had spoken to Vukov, who traveled to Melbourne, between matches during the tournament.

“Of course I want who I want in the box, but I couldn’t change it,” she said.

“I just tried to focus on my matches and I spoke to him. I also have Goran (Ivanisevic) so it didn’t affect the way I played today or any of the result I think.”

Vukov has denied ever abusing Rybakina, and Rybakina has said he “never abused” her on two occasions. She split with the Croatian before the US Open, but announced on social media that he would return to her team just before the first Grand Slam of the year.

“I don’t agree with many things, what the WTA is doing in terms of my relationship with Stefano,” Rybakina said on the eve of the tournament. “Like I said before, I’ve never complained or any of those things. I’ve always said he never mistreated me.”

The WTA Tour first began receiving complaints about Vukov, who described his behavior towards Rybakina as harsh and at times aggressive, more than two years ago. It did not open a formal investigation against him until Rybankina and her longtime coach parted ways when officials received a new series of complaints.

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Sources briefed on the WTA Tour investigation, who like all the sources in this story spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships, said tour officials had decided not to issue a decision on Vukov until after Rybakina’s exit from the Australian Open, and possibly not before the tournament ends.

A WTA Tour spokesperson did not confirm a timeline for the decision during the first week of the tournament.

Rybakina hired Goran Ivanisevic, the former coach of Novak Djokovic, ahead of the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Ivanisevic joined his squad for the 2025 season and has been present in his coaching box in Melbourne.

Sources briefed on the WTA Tour investigation and who had watched Rybakina’s matches before the tournament characterized Ivanisevic as being blindsided by Rybakina’s public announcement but not her decision.

It is not clear if Ivanisevic will continue as her coach. Rybakina said at her press conference that they would have to talk before making a decision, describing the arrangement to date as a process of “getting used to each other.”

Keys will face Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals.

(Photo: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)