Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys had to battle back from the brink to keep her winning streak alive and book a spot in the BNP Paribas Open quarterfinals.

No. 5 seed Keys has won 15 consecutive matches after pulling off a 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 comeback over No. 19 seed Donna Vekic in a 2-hour and 18-minute thriller on Wednesday. Keys had to grind out a tense second-set tiebreak to turn the tide and grab a 3-1 head-to-head lead over last year's Olympic silver medalist Vekic.

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"I think Donna played really well at the beginning," Keys said in her post-match press. "I felt like I wasn't executing quite how I wanted to. Was really happy that I was able to kind of flip the script a little bit in the second set and kind of play a pretty solid third set."

Keys will face resurgent mom Belinda Bencic in the quarterfinals, after Bencic beat No. 3 seed Coco Gauff earlier on Wednesday. Last month's Abu Dhabi champion Bencic and Keys have split their four previous meetings, and they have not faced off since 2022.

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Another quarterfinal in California: Coming into this year's edition, Keys had only made one previous BNP Paribas Open quarterfinal, in 2022 -- and she was dismantled by eventual champion Iga Swiatek in that match, 6-1, 6-0.

But Keys has now made it back to that round in Indian Wells, on the back of some career-best accomplishments in 2025. She won her first Grand Slam title at the 2025 Australian Open and is currently placed at a new career-high of World No. 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings.

Keys, who turned 30 years old last month, has become the fifth woman over 30 in the Open Era to post a 15-match winning streak at tour level, joining a legendary list: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams.

With her latest come-from-behind victory, Keys keeps hopes alive for the first American women's singles title at Indian Wells in 24 years. The last American woman to hoist the trophy in the desert was Serena Williams back in 2001.

Match moments: Vekic initially set the stage for an upset. She saved four break points within her first two service games, then found one of her numerous drop shot winners to earn the first break of the day at 3-2. Vekic held off a comeback by Keys to garner the one-set lead, breaking the American twice.

In the second set, Vekic erased a set point at 5-4 with an ace, and she pushed that set into a tiebreak, aiming for a straight-sets win. But the Keys groundstrokes clicked into place during an extremely close breaker, where the pair was deadlocked through 7-7. Vekic saved two more set points up to that juncture -- although the Croat was never able to get to match point.

The steadily improving Keys earned her fourth set point by cranking a forehand return winner, and she leveled the match at one set apiece at last, firing a stupendous delivery that clipped the service line.

Keys had all the momentum afterwards, romping to a 5-2 lead in the third set. The American failed to serve out the match in that game, but she used one last heavy forehand to break Vekic for her latest win. Keys ended the affair with 46 winners to just 28 unforced errors.