Madison Keys Triumphs in Epic US Open Match Against Anna Bondar
NEW YORK — On a roaring Court 17, Madison Keys walked the tightrope and refused to fall.
Down 5-2 in the third set. Five match points faced. A crowd riding every swing. Somehow, the 22nd seed turned all of it into a 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5) victory over Anna Bondar in what felt like the US Open’s first true epic of the fortnight.
This was survival with style, and a forehand that simply would not quit.
Hanging by a thread
Bondar, ranked No. 73 in the PIF WTA Rankings, had the match in her hands. Serving at 5-2 in the decider, she earned her first two match points and saw the finish line. Then the tension crept in. Two double faults on those first two chances cracked the door open for Keys.
Keys barged through.
She broke to 5-3, only to teeter again. Serving to stay in the tournament, she slipped behind 15-40. Two match points. Two forehand winners, painted right on the line, dragged the game back to deuce. Bondar earned a fifth match point later in the game; Keys wiped that one away too, again with the forehand, and somehow held.
From 2-5 down, she had life. From there, she seized it.
Keys reeled off the next two games to edge ahead 6-5, the noise rising with every point as Court 17 sensed the momentum turning. Bondar steadied herself long enough to hold and drag the contest into a deciding 10-point tiebreak, one last shootout after nearly three hours of emotional whiplash.
Forehand decides the fight
The Hungarian regrouped first. Bondar jumped out to a 5-3 lead in the breaker, two points from closing out the upset. The tension returned, but this time it belonged to her.
Keys’ answer was the shot that had kept her afloat all night.
Four straight forehand winners. Each one heavier than the last. Suddenly 3-5 became 7-5, the tiebreak flipped on its head, the crowd now in full roar behind the American. Bondar never recovered. Keys swept the final three points, taking the breaker 10-5 and the match with it.
Match point fittingly arrived on another forehand bullet. Bondar, stranded at the net, could only flail as the ball screamed past. Keys exploded, unleashing a thunderous celebration that matched the scale of the escape.
A first at Flushing Meadows
For all her experience, this was a new kind of win for Keys in New York. It marked the first time she has ever won a US Open match after saving a match point. It was also her first such escape at a WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz event since last year in Cincinnati, where she rallied past Eva Lys 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (1).
On Court 17, the numbers told one story: 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The noise, the nerves, and that defiant forehand told another.
And as Keys walked off, into the third round, it felt like the kind of night that can ignite an entire tournament.
