NEW YORK (Reuters) -Madison Keys relied on her explosive serve and powerful groundstrokes to overwhelm Katerina Siniakova 6-4 6-1 in the first round of the U.S. Open on Monday.
The American, a finalist at Flushing Meadows in 2017, has struggled with injuries this season but showed no sign of any lingering issues on Louis Armstrong Stadium court where she crushed 17 winners and broke her Czech opponent five times.
Nine-times Grand Slam women’s doubles champion Siniakova, who won the mixed doubles gold medal at the Paris Games earlier this month, struggled with her serve. She made just 52% of her first serves and produced 11 double faults.
After a competitive opening set in the first meeting of the two veteran players, the 14th-seeded Keys turned up the aggression to break at the start of the second, and, despite being broken back, soon took total control of the match.
Keys slapped an inside-out forehand winner to hold serve at love for 5-1 and rifled a service return that Siniakova could not handle on match point to end the affair.
“After the first couple of games I figured some things out and felt a lot better and more comfortable on the court,” Keys said in an on-court interview.
“I really was just trying to be aggressive… focus on my side of the court and serve well. Taking care of my service games was really the biggest thing.”
Keys reached the tournament’s semi-finals last year where she faced Aryna Sabalenka and appeared to be rolling after winning the first set 6-0 but eventually suffered an agonizing defeat.
She began the 2024 season nursing a shoulder injury before winning the clay court Strasbourg International in May.
She was forced to retire in the third sets from her matches at Wimbledon in July and Toronto earlier this month with injuries but looked to be in excellent form on Monday.
“I’m really proud of all the hard work I’ve put in this year,” she said.
“I missed the beginning of the season being injured, had a really great clay court season, had a heartbreaker at Wimbledon, had to rehab again.
“I’m coming back from a lot this year but I feel like I’m playing some really good tennis.”
Next up for Keys is a second-round meeting with Australian qualifier Maya Joint.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll in Los Angeles; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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