MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Madison Keys stormed into the third spherical of the Australian Open with a 6-2 7-5 win over Jaqueline Cristian on Wednesday as the American continued her resurgence after a yr by which she sank right into a “darkish pit of despair” and her rating plummeted.
The former U.S. Open finalist warmed up for the opening Grand Slam of the yr along with her first title since 2019 at the Adelaide WTA match final week and knocked out 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in her opener on Monday.
The former world quantity seven, who slipped to 87th within the rankings following a disappointing 2021, is aiming to enhance on her semi-final end at Melbourne Park seven years in the past.
The American ran away with the opening set in 31 minutes and broke unseeded Romanian Cristian for a 6-5 lead within the subsequent to seal the win that arrange a conflict with Wang Qiang after the Chinese participant beat Alison Van Uytvanck 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3.
Keys, who missed the 2021 Australian Open attributable to COVID-19, had mentioned after her match with Kenin that she had fond recollections of her deep run at the foremost and hoped to have one other.
She added that not taking issues too critically and avoiding placing stress on herself had helped in her resurgence, whereas social media had additionally performed an element.
“One of the primary issues that made me snap out of it was this lady on TikTok. Her identify is ‘Tinx’. She’s consistently saying ‘comparability is the thief of pleasure’,” Keys mentioned on Monday.
“It actually made me change my perspective on evaluating every little thing I’ve executed and doing to everybody round me. It was simply making me depressing.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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