Keys Outshines Venus to Reach Aussie Semis
When Venus Williams made her pro debut in 1994, Madison Keys had yet to be born. Fast-forward to 2015, and the 19-year-old Keys finds herself into her first Grand Slam semifinal after knocking off Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals Wednesday.
“First of all, I’m very happy I’m into the semifinals, but the moment’s definitely sweeter being able to play Venus to get there,” said Keys, who grew up admiring the Williams Sisters. “I was trying to enjoy the moment, and I did, and I get to enjoy another moment in the next round!”
Keys was the more aggressive player to start and seemed to be going for a lot more winners than her compatriot. In a set that did not see long rallies or points, Keys was able to notch two break points to take the opening set.
Venus would come out firing in the second set and broke the American teenager twice early to take a commanding 4-1 lead.
Keys was forced to take a medical timeout because of a left groin strain but regained her composure to break back. Venus would respond though with another break and then served out the set to force the match into a deciding third.
Carrying momentum from the second set, Venus jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the decider. Keys would get back within 3-4 but Venus still held the break advantage. From there, however, Keys took over the contest, rattling off the final three games to shock her idol and move into the final four in Melbourne.
“I mean, it definitely feels amazing,” Keys said on-court. “It’s one of those things where you want to feel this way all the time. I mean, I’ve had some good wins; I’ve had some bad losses. That’s my goal for the year, just being more consistent. Even playing badly, not being horrible.”
Keys has been far from horrible thus far in 2015. Now that she has eliminated Venus, she will have to go through the younger Williams sister in the semifinals after Serena routed 12th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-2 on Wednesday.
