Madison Keys' Thrilling Comeback at US Open
NEW YORK — On a noisy corner of Flushing Meadows, Madison Keys walked to the very edge of defeat, stared it down five times, and refused to fall.
The 22nd seed produced a wild, nerve-jangling comeback on Court 17, overturning a 5-2 deficit in the third set and saving five match points to beat Anna Bondar 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) in what already feels like the match of this US Open.
From the brink at 2-5
At 5-2 down in the decider, with Bondar serving and the crowd sensing an upset, Keys looked finished. The Hungarian, ranked No. 73 in the PIF WTA Rankings, had been the steadier player in the biggest moments and stood two points from the finish line.
Then the tension bit.
On her first two match points, Bondar tightened and threw in back-to-back double faults. Keys didn’t need a second invitation. She broke for 5-3, a small crack in the door, but still a long way from safety.
Serving to stay in the tournament, Keys immediately slipped behind 15-40. Two more match points. Two more chances for Bondar to close. Keys answered both with fearless, line-licking forehand winners, the kind of shots that end either in headlines or heartbreak. She dragged the game to deuce, stared down a fifth match point, and erased that one as well with yet another forehand winner before finally holding.
Court 17 erupted. The match had turned from routine upset into survival drama.
A tiebreak worthy of the chaos
Once she’d wriggled free, Keys surged. She reeled off the next two games to lead 6-5, only for Bondar to steady herself and hold, forcing the deciding 10-point tiebreak.
Momentum flickered again.
Bondar jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the breaker, back in control, back within touching distance of the biggest win of her season. Keys’ response was ruthless and singular: the forehand.
She unloaded four consecutive forehand winners to flip 3-5 into 7-5, each strike heavier, bolder, more defiant than the last. Bondar, suddenly on the back foot, never recovered. Keys swept the final three points, sealing the tiebreak 10-5 and the match with one last forehand bullet that Bondar, stranded at the net, could only flail at.
The ball flew past. The match was over. Keys’ roar ripped around the compact stands, a thunderous release from a player who had just escaped one of the tightest corners of her Grand Slam career.
A rare escape, and a statement
This was no routine early-round win. It marked the first time Keys has ever won a match at the US Open after facing match point. It was also her first victory in any WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz match after saving match points since her Cincinnati comeback last year, when she overturned a 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1) battle against Eva Lys.
On a hot, noisy New York afternoon, Keys added another chapter to that growing catalogue of escapes — and booked her place in the third round with the kind of comeback that can ignite an entire fortnight.
