A decade after announcing herself as a Grand Slam contender, Madison Keys has powered her way back into the last eight of the Australian Open.
The 19th seed recovered from a mid-match dip to topple sixth seed Elena Rybakina 6-3 1-6 6-3 in 1 hour and 49 minutes on Monday, earning a fourth career quarterfinal at Melbourne Park.
MORE: All the results from Australian Open 2025
The American, who made it one step further to the AO semifinals in 2015 and 2022, recalled her early success with fondness.
“It’s hard to believe that it was ten years ago,” grinned Keys, now 29. “To still be out here and playing some good tennis all these years later, I’m really happy.”
In humid conditions at Margaret Court Arena, the powerful American had some help from Rybakina, who struck 20 unforced errors to Keys’ five in the opening set. The 25-year-old Kazakh, whose formidable serve helped her secure her maiden major at Wimbledon 2022, placed six double faults in total, and won just 34 per cent of second serve points.
Though the duo exchanged breaks in the third to level the match at 3-3, it was Keys who fearlessly pounded winners off each wing to break. After consolidating that advantage, she never looked back.
“I knew that if I could just try to make at least some of her service games a little competitive then I had a chance,” Keys said. “Really proud of myself today.”
The former world No.7, whose big game involves an attacking style of play, explained that she’s been working on becoming even more aggressive in an effort to dictate points in any given match.
That approach is bearing fruit. Rybakina is Keys’ third top-10 conquest this year, following victories over Daria Kasatkina and Jessica Pegula in Adelaide en route to her ninth title.
All wins came with the help of a new Yonex racquet, which the former Wilson loyalist recently switched to for – in her words – “safer, easier power.”
Predictably, she’s thrilled with how the 2025 season has begun.
“I don't know if when I started I thought I'd be almost 30 and still playing at the level that I'm playing, and arguably playing maybe even better than I have ever really played,” Keys said.
Her career-best performance at a major came at the 2017 US Open, where she finished as runner-up to friend and countrywoman Sloane Stephens.
The Florida resident’s positive attitude and insatiable hunger to succeed was evident even in her youth.
“I try to work as hard as I possibly can,” a 19-year-old Keys had said after losing to eventual champion Serena Williams in their AO 2015 semifinal. “I still want more, I think I will forever be that way.”
On Wednesday, Keys will seek to extend her current nine-match winning streak when she faces Elina Svitolina, who she leads 3-2 in their previous head-to-head meetings.
Svitolina, the 28th seed, defeated Veronika Kudermetova 6-4 6-1 to reach her first AO quarterfinal since giving birth in 2022.
The Ukrainian won seven consecutive games as she recovered from a 1-4 deficit against her 27-year-old rival and limited unforced errors to just 14, around half the 27 struck by Kudermetova.
“[It’s a] really amazing feeling to go deep in these kinds of tournaments, in the Grand Slams, is always extra special,” Svitolina said. Her husband Gael Monfils is seeking to cause a fourth round upset against 21st seed Ben Shelton.
Keys, who watched some of the 30-year-old Svitolina’s stunning upset of fourth seed Jasmine Paolini, said she isn’t expecting the match-up to feel anything like their past battles.
“I was so impressed, she was really going for it and really going after her shots and hitting some incredible forehands,” she said, recognising the parallels: her forthcoming opponent has also sought to become more aggressive.
“It's kind of the evolution of all of us as we're getting older and trying to make some changes.”