Keys ousts Rybakina in Melbourne; sets quarterfinal meeting with Svitolina

Continuing her hot start to the season, No.19 seed Madison Keys of the United States moved into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the fourth time in her career by grinding out a 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 victory over No.6 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.

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Keys shook off a second-set lull to topple 2023 Australian Open finalist Rybakina in 1 hour and 49 minutes, moving ahead 3-2 in their head-to-head. Keys is now a win away from reaching her third Australian Open semifinal, having made the final four here in 2015 and 2022.

"Obviously pretty good first set, and I think I finished the third set really well," Keys said in press. "There are some things that I can take and learn from the middle of the match, but overall, really happy with how I was able to finish and close out that match."

Keys will next take on No.28 seed Elina Svitolina in a quarterfinal showdown. Svitolina came back from a double-break down in the first set to roll past Veronika Kudermetova 6-4, 6-1 in Rod Laver Arena on Monday.

Keys has a narrow 3-2 head-to-head lead over Svitolina. Their most recent meeting came almost exactly three years ago, also in Australia: Keys beat Svitolina in the first round of the WTA 250 event at Adelaide in 2022, then went all the way to the title.

Keys' winning streak extended: Keys did it again in Adelaide this year, winning the WTA 500 title in that city a week ago. The American is now on a nine-match winning streak, and she is the tour leader in match-wins so far this year (overall win-loss record of 10-1 in 2025).

The 29-year-old Keys brought her sparkling form into her marquee match against 2022 Wimbledon champion Rybakina. The 2017 US Open finalist out-winnered Rybakina by 12 to nine in the first set, and she swatted away the lone break point she faced in the opener.

Obviously there would be many momentum shifts in a match between two big hitters, and Rybakina took complete charge in the second set. The decisive third set was very much up for grabs as well through 3-3.

But Keys reclaimed her top form from there, creaming massive returns to stymie Rybakina. A return winner gave Keys the pivotal break for a 4-3 lead, and she slammed her 27th winner of the day to convert her second match point and reach her 11th Grand Slam quarterfinal.

"At 3-3, I made a pretty conscious decision to really try to take advantage of anything that I got as early as I could in the point," Keys said. "I felt like from that moment on I really was able to just kind of dictate and run away with the last set."

This was Keys' first Top 10 win at a Grand Slam since she notched back-to-back victories over Jessica Pegula and Marketa Vondrousova to make the 2023 US Open semifinals.

Surging Svitolina: Former World No.3 Svitolina, meanwhile, continues to rack up strong Grand Slam results. She is into her 12th career Grand Slam quarterfinal, and her first quarterfinal at the Australian Open since 2019.

Her Slam successes have not dwindled since her return from maternity leave in 2023 either. This is Svitolina's fourth Slam quarterfinal since she gave birth to daughter Skai in 2022.

Svitolina reached back-to-back Australian Open quarterfinals in 2018 and 2019. She came close to making another quarterfinal Down Under last year, but she retired in her fourth-round match against Linda Noskova due to a back injury.

The 30-year-old has gone one further this year, during a fortnight which has already been historic. With her second-round win over Caroline Dolehide, Svitolina became the first Ukrainian player of any gender in the Open Era to post 100 main-draw wins at Grand Slam events.

"All the four matches that I played here, I'm really happy with my fitness," Svitolina said afterwards. "I'm really happy with the way I've been handling tough physical matches that I had. Yeah, so far so good."

It was a tricky start for Svitolina on Monday, as powerful hitting by former World No.9 Kudermetova gave the unseeded player a 4-1, double-break advantage. Kudermetova, by the way, had won both of their previous meetings, each time in three sets.

However, Svitolina found some of her best shots -- including stunning angles and exceptional passes -- to reel off five straight games and snatch the one-set lead. Kudermetova, meanwhile, had two visits from the physio in the latter stages of the first set.

Behind heavier returns, Svitolina took full command in the second set. A pristine volley gave the Ukrainian a break for 3-1, and she eased to an 83-minute win from there. Svitolina converted five of her nine break points on the day.

"It was tricky today at the beginning," Svitolina said. "But I'm very proud of myself I could find my way."