Madison Keys smashed No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula 6–1, 6–3 Monday to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open for the first time since 2018.
Keys, the No. 17 seed, needed just over an hour to win the all-American affair. She converted five of nine break chances and finished with 21 winners to just six for Pegula.
“It’s always tough having to play a friend,” Keys said during her courtside interview. “... When we get on the court it’s all business.”
Keys was the runner-up to Sloane Stephens at Flushing Meadows in 2017 and a semifinalist in 2018.
“I’ve had so many amazing moments in New York,” said Keys, who won 77 percent of her first-service points in a match that featured few long rallies.
She will next face No. 9 seed Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic. The reigning Wimbledon champion rallied to beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns 6–7 (3), 6–3, 6–2 in the fourth round on Monday.
“She was playing great from the beginning, and I just tried to stay in the game,” Vondrousova said. “I’m very happy. I actually didn’t expect it after Wimby -- it was a lot of pressure. We'll see what happens next.”
Vondrousova served nine aces and took advantage of 52 unforced errors by Stearns, including 21 in the final set, to reach her first U.S. Open quarterfinal.
