Madison Keys headed back on court to receive her first Cincinnati Open, beaming over a career-boosting moment that nobody expected – not even her.
“If you told me this is where I would be a week ago, I would have laughed in your face!” she told the crowd.
Yet there she was, back in the world’s Top 10 in the lead-up to the US Open and on a surprising upswing heading to New York.
Keys rallied late in both sets on Sunday and beat former world No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5 7-6 (7-5) in Cincinnati for her second title of the season and the biggest of her career.
After flameouts in her past three tournaments, she’s got a lot of confidence heading into the final grand slam event of the year that is loaded with intrigue.
Serena Williams dropped out of Cincinnati because of back spasms that forced her to retire from the final in Toronto a week ago.
Naomi Osaka, the defending US Open champion, withdrew from her semi-final match in Cincinnati with discomfort in her left knee.
And now Keys is on the rise.
he’ll move up to a No.10 ranking for New York after another gritty showing.
Why so unexpected?
She hadn’t made it past the second round in any of her past three tournaments, including Wimbledon.
Plus, she had a tough draw for a tournament played in hot weather for much of the week.
“It’s definitely a great building block,” Keys said.
“I want to do well in New York and have a good end to the season.”
At 34, Kuznetsova was the oldest finalist in Cincinnati Open history and for the first time in her 19-year career she beat three top-10 players in a tournament.
She accounted for Sloane Stephens, world No.3 Karolina Pliskova and denied Ashleigh Barty a return to world No.1 by defeating the Australian in the semi-finals.
Russian Kuznetsova began the week ranked 153rd – after a late start on the season as she completed a seven-month recovery from a knee injury – but will go into the US Open at No.63 after her best result in two years.
“Honestly, I didn’t expect to be so good at this tournament,” she said.