Keys Beats Kvitova In China Open Battle
American Madison Keys won a dramatic match in Beijing on Friday, edging Petra Kvitova 6-3, 6-7(2), 7-6(5) to reach the China Open semifinals.
“I think I played a pretty solid first set today, then she raised her level. I just think at the end it became a couple of points here or there,” said Keys. “I think I got my serve back on track a little bit. I mean, really, it could have gone either way.
It was really close.”
Keys raced out to an early lead, taking the first set and going up a break in the second set. But Kvitova engineered a comeback, getting the break back, and even as they traded breaks later in the set, the 14th seeded Czech would force a tiebreaker and won seven of the nine points to force the match into a deciding third set.
Keys would save 10 break points in the final set, and it would head into a tiebreaker. At 5-5, Keys mustered up two huge points to close out Kvitova and reach the final four in Beijing.
“I think I did a really good job of staying focused and just trying to regroup and worry about the next point,” Keys added. “You know, she made it really tough today. I’m just really happy that at the end I was able to get my serve back on track and get myself ahead in the tiebreaker.”
The eighth-seed Keys will take on 11th seeded Briton Johanna Konta in the semifinals. Konta ended the run of China’s Shuai Zhang 6-4, 6-0 on Friday to book her spot in the final four.
Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina followed up her victory over world number one Angelique Kerber in the third round with a 7-6(3), 6-1 win over Daria Gavrilova to reach the semifinals.
The 16th seeded Svitolina moves on to play the winner of third-seed Agnieszka Radwanska and Yaroslava Shvedova.
On the men’s side in Beijing, Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov upset second-seed Rafael Nadal with a routine 6-4, 6-2 victory to reach the semifinals. He will take on third-seed Milos Raonic after the Canadian rolled past Pablo Carreno Busta 6-4, 6-4 in his quarterfinal match on Friday.
The other semifinal on the men’s side will pit top-seed Andy Murray against fifth-seed David Ferrer.
