There are many happy memories for Madison Keys in Adelaide, where she added to her impressive career resume when she defeated fellow American Alison Riske to win the 2023 title.
Now the 29-year-old is creating more happy memories in the South Australian capital. After wins this week over Beatriz Haddad Maia, Jelena Ostapenko and Daria Kasatkina, the world No.20 has advanced to the 2025 semifinals.
Keys was at her most aggressive best in her latest victory, requiring under an hour to claim a 6-1 6-3 victory over the No.3 seed, a finalist at last year’s tournament.
Bringing her most aggressive tennis to The Drive on Thursday, the 20th-rankled American recorded 11 aces and not a single double fault against Kasatkina. Perhaps most impressive, however, were the 38 winners against three from world No.9 Kasatkina.
She's through to the semi's in style 💃
Madison Keys defeats Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-3 at the #AdelaideTennis pic.twitter.com/sqUQfFZfxk
— Adelaide International (@AdelaideTennis) January 9, 2025
“I don’t think there’s many things that I did wrong tonight,” said Keys. “It was just kind of one of those lines and I hit a lot of lines, which doesn’t always happen but I’m very happy with the match today and I’m excited to come back tomorrow.”
Keys will battle against world No.26 Liudmila Samsonova, who stunned No.2 seed Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals, for a place in the final
“She’s another one of those players that can hit anything from anywhere, so you have to be ready for everything,” Keys noted of the world no.26. “But [I’m] really looking forward to it.”
The American will bring some pleasing momentum into the semifinal, having opened her 2025 season with a quarterfinal run in Auckland.
“I think I played some really good tennis and there were some injuries here and there so I didn’t really get to play a full season,” said Keys. “But I put in a lot of work this off-season and I’m feeling really good starting this season.”
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