Gauff, Keys headline strong American showing in Madrid
MADRID -- Coco Gauff, on the strength of her 6-2, 6-3 Saturday victory over Ann Li, joined fellow American Madison Keys in the Round of 16 at the Mutua Madrid Open.
Four other United States players still have the prospect of joining them: No. 3 seed Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Emma Navarro, No. 32 Sofia Kenin and Peyton Stearns.
After losing the two opening games to Li, Gauff ran off eight straight and coasted to the victory. The victory equaled Gauff’s best performance here in Madrid, achieved in 2022 and 2024. Madrid remains one of only three tournaments she’s played four-plus times and is yet to advance to at least the quarterfinals, along with Wimbledon and the Miami Open.
On Monday, Gauff will play Belinda Bencic, who outlasted No.16 Beatriz Haddad Maia in 3 hours, 3 minutes.
“It will be an interesting one," Gauff said of Bencic. "I know she hits a little bit more flatter and I hit heavier, so I would like to think it favors me more. But, obviously, she beat me last time in Indian Wells [in March] and she’s always a tough opponent."
Gauff, who turned 21 last month, has been remarkably consistent on this surface against players she’s expected to beat. After losing her first career clay-court WTA match to an opponent ranked outside the Top 50 -- Martina Trevisan at Roland Garros 2020 -- Gauff has now won all 29 of those matches.
Gauff converted five of her nine break-point opportunities against Li and she’s now 70-for-128 (.547) on the year. She’s third among WTA Tour players, behind only Polina Kudermetova (.562) and Emma Raducanu (.561).
“Overall, a solid performance,” Gauff said. “I was just trying to stay steady. She was throwing in some errors today. I felt like I didn’t have to do too much, except push her to play more defense.”
Earlier, avenging a straight-sets loss earlier this month in Charleston, Keys defeated Anna Kalinskaya 7-5. 7-6 (3).
The No. 30-seeded Kalinskaya squandered three set points in the second set and then Keys won six of the last seven points in the tiebreak. Keys saved nine of 12 break points, while Kalinskaya finished 0-for-4.
The No. 5 seed will play the winner of the night match between No. 11 Navarro and No. 19 Donna Vekic on Monday. Only World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (12) has won more matches this season against seeded opponents than Keys’ 11.
Keys became only the third American to notch 100-plus match-wins in WTA 1000 events, after Serena and Venus Williams. With 24 of those victories on clay, Keys passes Venus for the second-most wins by an American after Serena.
Keys had four aces to run her season’s total to 124, behind only Clara Tauson (159) and Linda Noskova (127).
