Madison Keys is back in the semifinals of a Grand Slam event. The American eased past No.4 seed Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2 on Tuesday at the Australian Open. 

In their first meeting, Keys was pristine in the sweltering Melbourne conditions. She needed only 1 hour and 25 minutes to take out the reigning Roland Garros singles and doubles champion Krejcikova. 

Keys will face World No.1 Ashleigh Barty on Thursday night for a spot in her second major final.

Words from the winner: "I think I played a pretty solid match today," Keys said in her post-match press conference. "Just so happy to be back in the semifinals here for the first time in a long time.

"I think the biggest key is just being able to reel it back in and then refocus very quickly and catching yourself. I think that's the thing that I've been just really focusing on the most, is acknowledging when I'm either not playing the right way, getting ahead of myself, anything, just stopping it once it's a point or two or a game, versus all of a sudden you look up and it's been three or four games.

"[I'm] really just trying to be a lot more measured and just playing within myself a little bit more, not necessarily trying to hit a winner on that ball, just constantly trying to set the point up to get to the net to try to finish it off on even the next ball. If it happens to be a winner, then it happens to be a winner."

Fast facts: Keys is now into her fifth Grand Slam semifinal of her career and her first since the 2018 US Open. She matches her final four result from the 2015 Australian Open, where she made her maiden major semifinal.

Keys' best Grand Slam result to date is a runner-up showing against Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open.

Keys was only 2-6 against Top 5 players at the Grand Slams coming into the quarterfinal, but the former World No.7 had all the answers against the fourth-ranked Krejcikova, becoming this week's first semifinalist in the process.

Keys' hot start to 2022 continues unabated. She is now on a career-best 10-match winning streak. Keys won her sixth career WTA singles title, and first since 2019, last week at the Adelaide International 2.

Stat corner: Keys stormed to victory behind 27 winners, 11 of which were aces. The American, currently ranked World No.51, kept her aggressive play clean with her winner total outpacing her 21 unforced errors.

By contrast, Krejcikova's 12 winners were undone by 28 unforced errors. Last week's Sydney finalist Krejcikova had won 38 of her past 47 matches, her serve was broken four times by Keys.

Match moments: Keys and Krejcikova had many opportunities on return early in the match, but both of them were unable to capitalize on their first six break points apiece, which all came in the first six games.

It was Keys who was the first to convert on her seventh break point, when she forced a Krejcikova error wide to take a 4-2 lead. The unseeded American took control from there, ending the set with back-to-back aces three games later.

Krejcikova dropped her first two service games of the second set, giving Keys a commanding 3-0, double-break lead. The Czech clawed one break back, but big returns by Keys extended her advantage again as she broke for 5-2. Keys eased to a service hold in the final game to notch another major semifinal.

Moving on: Keys is now one win away from her second career Grand Slam final. To get there, she will have to beat No.1 Barty, who advanced with a 6-2, 6-0 win over Jessica Pegula. The Aussie leads the head-to-head 2-1, having won their last match at the 2019 French Open en route to the title.

"I have gone into every match thinking I can absolutely win any match that I'm out on the court," Keys said. "I will say it's been kind of nice to be the underdog for the first time in a long time. It's really just not even in my head about winning and losing. It's really just going out, competing, trying to do what the game plan is."