Madison Keys says the biggest title of her career at the Western & Southern Open final on Sunday was a “building rock” for the US Open. The 24-year-old overcame two-time Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets to record her second tournament win of the season.
The 7-5 7-6 (7-5) victory will see Keys – ranked 18th – return to the world top 10 and gives her momentum ahead of the upcoming Grand Slam event at Flushing Meadows in New York City. “I’m obviously really happy and really proud of myself, but it’s definitely more of a building block,” Keys said of her triumph. “I want to do well in New York, and I want to have a good end of the season.
So I’m taking a lot of positives from this week, but just trying to reel it in a little bit.” In her first hard-court final since finishing as runner-up at the 2017 US Open, the American recovered from 5-3 down in both sets to take the victory.
