Madison Keys is back in the semifinals of a Grand Slam event, as the American eased past No.4 seed Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-2 at the Australian Open on Tuesday.
In their first meeting, Keys was pristine in the sweltering Melbourne conditions as she cruised to victory over reigning Roland Garros singles and doubles champion Krejcikova in just an hour and 25 minutes.
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.
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