Magic Madison: Keys cruises into Australian Open women’s semifinal

MELBOURNE, Australia — Madison Keys continued her resurgent 2022 season by advancing to the Australian Open semifinals.

And resurgent might be a major understatement.

Her 6-3, 6-2 quarterfinal win over French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova on Monday was her 10th match win in a row and 11th of the new year. That includes five wins so far at Melbourne Park, five in winning the Adelaide International title 10 days ago and one at a Melbourne tournament in the first week of the season.

Her total number of wins in all of 2021? That same number, 11.

“I did everything I could to rest this offseason and focus on starting fresh and new ... starting from zero and not focusing on last year,” Keys said in her on-court interview. “I think it’s going well so far!”

Last week, Keys gave more details on how terrible 2021 was for her.

“I was just at a very high anxiety level all of the time,” Keys said. “I wasn’t sleeping as well. It felt like there was literally a weight on my chest just because I became so focused and obsessed with

it that I wasn’t enjoying really anything because it’s all that I was thinking about.”

Krejcikova took a medical timeout while trailing 5-2 in the first set from what might have been heat stress, and appeared

to be lethargic at times during the 35-minute second set.

Keys will play either topranked Ash Barty or Jessica Pegula in the semifinals. Barty and Pegula were playing a night match on Rod Laver Arena.

Rafael Nadal’s quest for a men’s record 21st Grand Slam singles title continues when he

takes on Denis Shapovalov in the late afternoon on Rod Laver. The other men’s quarterfinal on Day 9 between Gael Monfils and Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini closes the night program.

Temperatures were expected to reach 32 degrees Celsius (90 Fahrenheit) under partly cloudy skies.