Keys downs Badosa to make Australian Open quarterfinals

Nadal remains on course for record Grand Slam title

Madison Keys continued her resurgence by reaching the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-1 win over eighth seed Paulo Badosa at Rod Laver Arena.

Former United States Open finalist Keys, who has slipped to 51st in the world rankings, booked her place in the last eight of a Grand Slam for the first time since the 2019 French Open with a comprehensive win over the Spaniard.

“I’m so happy to be back. I was so sad to miss last year […] this amazing crowd and this amazing court,” said Keys, who was absent from the 2021 tournament because of COVID-19.

Keys, who rose to seventh in the world in 2016, has reached the quarterfinals twice before in Melbourne, defeating Venus Williams to advance to the semis in 2015 but losing to Angelique Kerber at the same stage three years later.

The American took control early on Sunday, breaking her opponent in her first service game and closing out the set in 32 minutes having put Badosa’s serve under constant pressure.

The players traded breaks in the opening two games of the second set before Keys broke Badosa twice more as the Spaniard started to struggle in the heat.

Badosa’s difficulties continued as Keys broke her for a third time in the set to advance to the next round, where she will face Barbora Krejcikova following the Czech’s win over Victoria Azarenka.

“I think she’s kind of just making tennis look easy,” Keys said of Krejcikova “It seems like no matter what people are doing, she very quickly figures it out and has another game plan to quickly implement.

“She moves forward so naturally that I feel like if you give her the opportunity, she’s just on top of you all of a sudden, then she’s at the net. Obviously it’s not easy to pass her.”

Badosa said she was overwhelmed by Keys’ serve and the power and accuracy of her returns.

“Sometimes I was serving 180. I had to look what the serve said because I didn’t understand how a winner came back that fast,” she said.

“I thought I was serving bad. Then I saw it was her game, that she was playing very, very good. […] Madison, she’s like that. When she has confidence, she’s very dangerous.”

In the men’s singles, Rafael Nadal remained on course for a men’s record 21st Grand Slam title after winning a battle of left-handers against Adrian Mannarino 7-6(14), 6-2, 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open on Sunday.

The only former champion left in the men’s draw, 2009 winner Nadal, is tied on 20 majors with injured Roger Federer and nine-time Melbourne Park winner Novak Djokovic, who was deported from Australia before the tournament began.

Mannarino had lost both his previous meetings against Nadal and came into the contest after a demanding third-round victory over Russian Aslan Karatsev in a match that lasted four hours and 39 minutes.

And after an intense opening set, which included a 30-point tiebreaker and lasted 81 minutes, the 69th-ranked Frenchman wilted under the blazing afternoon sun at the Rod Laver Arena as Nadal sealed the win with an ace on his first match point.

The former world number one will next meet either German third seed Alexander Zverev or another left-hander in Denis Shapovalov of Canada for a place in the semifinals.