Serena Williams vs. Madison Keys takes place today in the fourth round of the 2015 US Open.This US Open match is scheduled to start at 18:00 BST.Preview:
Serena barely survived one inspired American when she faced off with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the third round of the 2015 US Open. Can she overcome another in rising star Keys later today?
Not since the infamous 2009 semifinal against Kim Clijsters has Serena Williams lost a set before the final at the US Open, storming through the draw in 2011 before losing to Samantha Stosur in the final and winning 23 straight matches in straight sets on her way to titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014. But wildcard Bethanie Mattek-Sands snapped that streak when she took an early lead on Serena in the third round on Friday, leading 6-3 and recovering from a 3-5 deficit to level at 5-5 in the second.
The world, which has been following Williams’s progress towards a possible 22nd Grand Slam and calendar-year Slam eagerly, held its breath as Mattek-Sands’s fearless, all-out attacking play continued to wreak havoc with an error-prone Serena. But as she has done so many times before, the world no. 1 found her best tennis on the brink of defeat, producing a stellar return game to break Mattek-Sands and take the second set 7-5 before running away with the third for a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory.
There’s a reason they call it ‘doing a Serena’, after all. But while much of the credit must go to Mattek-Sands, who fully committed to an attacking game plan and showcased all her doubles expertise (she has won three women’s doubles Grand Slams this year alone) by finishing points at the net, Williams continued to struggle with her serve and didn’t find her devastating return game until late in the second set.
Williams, who reportedly broke a racquet in practice on Saturday, will want to get off to a much quicker start in the next round as she prepares to face another American with a game big enough to match her own – Madison Keys.
The 19-seeded Keys, 13 years younger than Williams at just 20 years old, is often spoke of as a potential successor to the Williams sisters when they finally hang up their racquets and that hype, brewing since Keys won her first WTA Tour title in Eastbourne last summer, exploded when Keys made a run to the semifinals of the Australian Open, defeating Petra Kvitova and Venus Williams on the way before losing to Serena.
Many expected Keys, coached by Lindsay Davenport, to instantly become a world-beater. It didn’t happen, with injuries and inconsistencies playing their part, and the rest of the season was highlighted by a runner-up finish to Angelique Kerber in Charleston and a run to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, where her big game flourishes, before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska in three sets. Keys went 3-3 through the US Open Series but has found a groove in New York, beating Klara Koukalova, Tereza Smitkova and finally Radwanska in straight sets.
Keys has conceded just 14 games on her way to a first appearance in the round of 16 at the US Open, with her win over Radwanska – her first after four defeats to the Pole – particularly promising. But is she ready for the biggest challenge in sports?
The Australian Open semifinal was the only meeting between Williams and Keys so far, with Keys acquitting herself well despite an injury which was limiting her mobility in a 6-7(5), 2-6 defeat. The younger American is possessed of an almost absurdly big serve and booming forehand around which her game is built, and has more than enough power to trade with Serena from the baseline. Where she is at a disadvantage is that her movement and defense are nowhere near as good as Serena’s, and she is not as adept at using and creating angles to move her opponent around. It’s a bad combination, but can be overcome by Keys serving brilliantly and executing her first-strike game consistently, walking the tightrope between patience and attack. Can she do it for the best of three sets against the best player in the world? Almost certainly not.