Madison Keys dropped the first eight games against Ons Jabeur in Tuesday's quarterfinals at the Mutua Madrid Open, but by the end of 1 hour and 33 minutes on court, she'd sealed a spot in the semifinals with a 0-6, 7-5, 6-1 come-from-behind victory. 

After beating former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 6-4 in the last 16, the 2022 Madrid champion raced out to an equally dominant first set against Keys, winning it in just 24 minutes. But the American wasn't about to go down easily. She quelled Jabeur's momentum in the second set, as she came from an early break deficit and kept the lead on serve for the rest of the set thereafter, before breaking the Tunisian at 15 to force the match to a final set. 

The momentum stayed with Keys into the final set: She lost just 11 points in a 6-1 frame (having won the first five games) to complete the comeback. 

"My literally entire career, everyone has been, 'You'll love Madrid. It's amazing. You're going to do so well there,'" Keys said. "And I have lost, like, first or second round except for once every single year. I was, like, 'I don't think that's true.' 

"But yeah, I guess this year it's finally clicking and maybe it is suited for my game, or at least this Madison's game."

For a spot in her fourth career WTA 1000-level final, Keys will next face World No.1 Iga Swiatek, who came from a set behind in her own quarterfinal win against No.11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia earlier in the day. Though Swiatek owns a 2-1 head-to-head edge against Keys, the 2017 US Open finalist earned a victory the last time they played in Cincinnati two years ago. 

Read on for more numbers behind Keys' escape. 

2: Jabeur had been 2-0 all-time against Keys; their two previous matches were played on hard courts, and Jabeur had not lost a set in any of those matches.

In addition, Keys' win against World No.9 Jabeur is her second Top 10 win in as many matches in Madrid after she defeated World No.3 Coco Gauff in the fourth round. 

4: Keys, who missed the Australian Open due to a shoulder injury, has now earned more wins this week than she had in her three prior tournaments this year. The American came into Madrid with a 3-3 record, with her season beginning at March's BNP Paribas Open. 

5: Entering 2024, Keys had lost in the first round in Madrid for five years in a row. Her career record at the tournament was 3-9 -- her lowest winning percentage among her career records at all WTA 1000 events. 

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6: Of Keys' 27 career Top 10 wins, six have now come on clay. Before this week, she last beat a Top 10 opponent on the surface in 2019. 

In addition, the win puts her through to her sixth career WTA 1000 semifinal, and first on clay since she reached the final of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in 2016.

7: Each woman created seven break point chances on the other's serve in the match, and converted on four. But Keys faced five of hers in the first set. 

8: The Tunisian won the first eight games of the match before Keys got on the board.

"At one point it was, like, wow, this is embarrassing," Keys said after the match. "We've got to figure something out. But I think eventually I was just, like, I'm just going to start going for things. I'm going to start just trying to focus on myself and my game, just try to get into every single game and just try to make things competitive.

"Once I did that, it felt like the momentum switched really quickly. Being able to get even just to 2-All in the second set, all of a sudden I felt like, okay, I'm actually really in this and I can win this match."

9: Keys' comeback ended Jabeur's nine-match winning streak at the Caja Mágica. She didn't play in the tournament last year after winning it in 2022 due to a left calf injury.

14: Keys won 14 points in the first set, but couldn't translate that into winning a game. She wasn't without opportunities: She had points to win each of the first three games of the match (including two break points in Jabeur's first service game), and also had a 30-15 lead on her serve trailing 4-0.