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Stat of the Day: Madison Keys records 250th WTA win of career in San Diego

The American battled back from 4-0 down in the first set to defeat No. 11-ranked Daria Kasatkina, 6-4, 6-3.

By John Berkok
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA - AUGUST 01: Madison Keys gestures to the crowd after defeating Shuai Zhang of China during the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, part of the Hologic WTA Tour, at Spartan Tennis Complex on August 01, 2022 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images)
© 2022 Getty Images

Madison Keys rebounded from a difficult start to defeat Daria Kasatkina in San Jose today, 6-4, 6-3, and move through to the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 event.

It was also a big milestone for Keys: the 250th WTA win of her career.

But for a while, it looked like that milestone would have to wait for another day.

Keys had won seven of the pair’s eight previous meetings, but Kasatkina’s only win against the American did come in their last meeting, at one of the lead-up events to the Australian Open in Melbourne this year—and the Russian came racing out of the blocks in this one, too, building a 4-0 lead in just 22 minutes.

But Keys caught fire from there, not only winning the next seven games in a row to build a 6-4, 1-0 lead, but eventually 10 of the next 11 games to go up 6-4, 4-1.

The No. 11-ranked Kasatkina got herself back on serve in the second set, holding serve to close the gap to 4-2 then breaking to make it 4-3, but Keys—who’s currently No. 18 on the WTA rankings—broke right back for 5-3 before swiftly serving it out.

Keys is now through to the quarterfinals or better at a WTA event for the fifth time this year. The first four times came on hard courts, too—she won a WTA 250 in Adelaide the week before the Australian Open, then reached the semifinals of the Australian Open, and also reached the quarterfinals of Indian Wells and the semifinals in Cincinnati.

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - OCTOBER 13: Madison Keys of the United States returns a shot against Daria Kasatkina of Russia during Day 4 of the San Diego Open, part of the Hologic WTA Tour, at Barnes Tennis Center on October 13, 2022 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
© Getty Images

Keys got the first WTA win of her career as a 14-year-old on green clay in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida in 2009, and with her victory over Kasatkina in San Diego on Thursday she improved to 250-154 in her career at WTA tournaments.

She’s now 28-17 this year, the fourth time she’s recorded 28 or more wins at WTA events in a season, having previously done so in 2015, 2016 and 2018.

KEYS’ WIN-LOSS RECORDS BY YEAR (WTA events only):
2009: 1-1
2010: 0-0
2011: 1-2
2012: 1-4
2013: 24-17
2014: 27-21
2015: 31-18
2016: 46-17
2017: 17-10
2018: 28-14
2019: 27-13
2020: 8-5
2021: 11-15
2022: 28-17 (including first two wins in San Diego)