Australian Open: Madison Keys knocks out Elena Rybakina in gruelling 4th round clash-OxBig News Network

Madison Keys stunned Elena Rybakina in her fourth round clash of the Australian Open 2025 as she beat her in a gruelling three-setter match on Monday, January 20 at the Margaret Court Arena. Keys beat her sixth-seed opponent 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 and advanced to the quarter-finals. The two-time semi-finalist dominated the first set against Rybakina, earning two break points which helped her take the lead.

However, the 2023 finalist came back strongly in the next set, stamping her authority on her American rival and clinched it 6-1 with three break points. With both players having won one set each, the match headed towards a mouth-watering third set where Keys managed to earn another crucial break point in the third game.

Australian Open 2025 Live

However, Rybakina was in no mood to give up as she broke Keys’ serve in Game 6 to draw level, which brought the game wide open. Sensing an opportunity to inflict another upset of the tournament, Keys brought her A game to the fore and put both her stunning forehand and backhand play on display to eventually have the game in her kitty.

As a result, she managed to knock out Rybakina from the tournament and savoured her achievement on the court. Following her win, she recalled her first ever semi-final of the tournament back in 2015 and praised Rybakina for raising her level in the second set.

“It’s hard to believe that it was 10 years ago that I made my first semi-final, um, but really proud of myself today, and I think, I mean, she raised her level in the second set and played some really great tennis, so, uh, to still be out here and playing some good tennis all these years later, I’m really happy,” said Keys in her on-court interview.

Furthermore, the 29-year-old revealed her strategy behind breaking Rybakina’s serve multiple times and revealed her sole focus was on getting as many returns as she could.

Keys set to lock horns with Svitolina in quarter finals

“I think I really just had to focus on trying to get as many returns in play today. Her serve is such a weapon, so I knew that if I could just try to make at least some of her service games a little bit competitive, then I had a chance. So, I was basically just trying to make anything that I could get my racket on back over the net, which works sometimes, but, yeah, I think my return was obviously a really big part of my game today,” she added.

Meanwhile, Keys will next lock horns with Elina Svitolina in the quarter-final, who earlier beat Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 to seal her spot in the last eight. Keys will aim to advance to her third semi-final in Melbourne while Svitolina will be eager to advance to the final four for the first time.