Sports News | Madison Keys Ousts World No.1 Iga Swiatek; Jessica Pegula Eases into Cincinnati Masters QFs

Cincinnati [US], August 19 (ANI): Madison Keys toppled reigning World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the third round of the Western and Southern Open on Thursday.

Keys registered a 6-3, 6-4 straight-set victory over Swiatek to enter the quarterfinals.

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Keys took 10 games in a row in the middle of the match after Swiatek led 3-2 in the first set. The first six games went with a serve--in which Keys erased the only break point either player shot, in the fourth game--and soon found herself ahead, 6-3, 5-0.

It was then that things got complicated. Swiatek kept a match point to save the bagel and won 11 of 12 points to tighten the scoreboard to 6-3, 5-3, but Keys produced a stunning comeback in the second set to close out the match with a win.

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Most notably though, Keys handed the World No.1 her second third-round beating in a row after she was defeated by Brazil's Beatriz Haddad Maia in Toronto last week.

"It feels great. I obviously have not had the best success against World No. 1s, so being able to get a win against Iga, especially after having two losses to her already, means a lot to me, and I think I'm playing some pretty good tennis," WTA.com quoted Keys as saying.

"I was really just thinking that I had to focus a lot on why I got in the position of being up 5-Love. I think I backed off a little bit, and I think she started playing better," Keys said.

"I just knew that I was going to have to try to put some pressure on her early in the game just to kind of also make her aware of the situation. All of a sudden it's 5-4 and she feels like she has to hold that game. So just really trying to swing at the ball, make sure I was moving my feet and put as much pressure on her as quickly as possible," she added.

Later in the day, World No.25 Elena Rybakina has not lost a set in Cincinnati and pushed through another straight-set victory, this time 6-2, 6-4 over Alison Riske-Amritraj to also reach the quarterfinals.

On the other hand, No.8 Jessica Pegula ended Emma Raducanu's campaign at the Western & Southern Open, beating the US Open champion 7-5, 6-4 in the Round of 16. The top-ranked American advanced to her fourth WTA 1000 quarterfinal of the season. (ANI)

(The above story is verified and authored by ANI staff, ANI is South Asia's leading multimedia news agency with over 100 bureaus in India, South Asia and across the globe. ANI brings the latest news on Politics and Current Affairs in India & around the World, Sports, Health, Fitness, Entertainment, & News. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)