MELBOURNE—“I have measured out my life with coffee spoons,” read the lines of the T.S. Eliot poem, The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. For Madison Keys, the revelatory metric might well be her Australian Open credentials. Keys first came to this event at the age of 14 in 2010 to play the juniors. Three years later, she made it to the third round, where after a slow start, she gave a good test to the fifth seed, Angelique Kerber, losing that match, 6-2, 7-5. In 2015, there was a major breakthrough: Keys’ first run to a Slam semi, highlighted by wins over Venus Williams and reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Explaining her affinity for Australia following her 6-3, 6-2, fourth-round dismissal of eighth-seeded Caroline Garcia, Keys said, “The courts are really fast, so that helps. I just, you know, love coming here, and it's an easy trip for me because I love the city and I love playing here. The fans are amazing. But it's also right after offseason so I always feel like I'm really excited to get on the road again.”
Still just 22 years old, Keys over the last year has faced both challenges and opportunities. Since December 2016, she has twice had wrist surgery, including one that kept her away from Melbourne last year. But by the end of the 2017 season, she’d reached the finals of the US Open and in the off-season, as revealed by an excellent *New York Times* story, was in the best shape of her career—in this case, both physically and mentally.
Given that Keys was seeded 17th, Garcia was technically the favorite. The head-to-head was inconsequential (1-1). And while Keys had played only one match in 2017 after the US Open, Garcia in the autumn had lit it up, winning two titles and taking her ranking from No. 20 in September to a career high of No. 8 a year later. The smooth contours of Garcia’s game—her crisp groundstrokes and fluid movement—had begun to surface nicely last autumn. Recall that back in 2011, Garcia had earned praise from Andy Murray as a future world number one.
Keys was in complete command. Garcia was helpless. Over the course of 68 minutes, this was severe one-way traffic, a comprehensive dismantling, Keys striking 32 winners, to just nine for Garcia.
Match Point: