Madison Keys’ Win Completes All-American Women’s Semifinal Line-Up
(September 6, 2017) FLUSHING MEADOWS, NY – Fifteenth seed Madison Keys has completed an all-American line-up in the US Open semifinals with her win over qualifier Kaia Kanepi 6-3, 6-3 on Wednesday night. Kanepi, ranked 418th in the world came into the qualifying tournament under a protected ranked due to injuries over the past two years.
Keys meet friend and countrywoman CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals on Thursday night. Keys hold a 2-0 record against Vandeweghe, with their most recent meeting coming in Cincinnati and before that the final of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford. The other semifinal will pit Venus Williams versus Sloane Stephens.
“I mean, it’s really amazing, not only for myself but just for, you know, American tennis,” Keys said.
“Yeah, I’m really excited and, you know, proud of all of us for getting this far and having it going to be, you know, USA all the way.”
“I mean, Lindsay(Davenport) even said to me today, she said, If I told you after Paris that you’d be a quarterfinalist at the US Open, would you believe me? I said, There’s no way.
“So having, you know, all of the things that were kind of thrown at me this whole year and having some really low moments and, you know, there was a moment where I came off the court, and I said, I don’t know if I’m ever going to win a tennis match again.
“There was definitely a lot of dark moments. To have this really feels good and makes me really proud of myself.”
“I think she was just better today,” said Kanepi. “She was serving really good.”
“Oh, my God, it feels so good. We have so many Americans to talk about in the last days of the US Open. I can’t tell you how many times I have sat in this chair and had to hear, you know, how horrible tennis is in America.
“So this feels really good. The fact that there is going to be, you know, two all-American semifinals, two, you know, people in the finals in Saturday, and Sam obviously had a great tournament. Not only that, he’s playing really well. There is lots of young up-and-comers. I think there is a lot of good American tennis to come.”
Keys had wrist surgery at the end of 2016, returning to the tour at Indian Wells.
“There was definitely the fear that a lot of players have struggled coming back from it,” Keys said. “ You know, having to go in for a second one was obviously really scary. But my surgeon was amazing, and the whole time he told me I was going to be fine.”
Keys talked about what she has to do in order to beat Vandeweghe and reach the final:”I’m going to have to serve really well. CoCo has an amazing serve. Defending that constantly, I’m just going to really have to do everything really well. She’s obviously playing remarkably.
“You know, the fact that we’re playing three times in a row is interesting. Yeah, I think I’m just going to have to stay at my highest level and just wait for my opportunities when they come.”
With Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams and CoCo Vandeweghe each advancing to the singles semifinals of the 2017 US Open, it marks the first time all four women’s singles semifinalsts have been American at a major tournament since Wimbledon in 1985 and at the US Open since 1981.
Only five times in the Open Era (since 1968) has a Grand Slam tournament featured four American women’s semifinalists:
1985 Wimbledon (Chris Evert, Zina Garrison, Martina Navratilova, Kathy Rinaldi)
1983 Australian Open (Zina Garrison, Kathy Jordan, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver)
1982 Australian Open (Chris Evert, Andrea Jaeger, Martina Navratilova, Pam Shriver)
1981 US Open (Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Barbara Potter)
1979 US Open (Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova)
The women’s semifinals are scheduled for Thursday at 7 p.m., starting with No. 9 seed Williams vs. Stephens, with No. 15 Keys vs. No. 20 Vandeweghe to follow.