Madison Keys outshines Emily Fanning in Girls’ Singles 1st round – US Open 2011
The two 16-year-olds that performed in front of a big crowd on show court 7 of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center were Emily Fanning from New Zealand and home girl Madison Keys, who is considered as the next Serena Williams of America. Duelling for a place in the second round in the girls’ singles draw of the US Open 2011, both players performed their best. The opening round match was eventually won by Madison as she survived a mid-match lapse registering a 6-1, 6-7(1), 6-3 victory.
Opening the first set was the home girl, who was the favoured amongst the spectators. As she opened the set by smashing an ace, she held her serve in the first game. In the following two games both players won on alternate serves but in the fourth game as Madison broke her opponent, the crowd chanted ‘Maddy, Maddy’ which boosted her performance and in the fifth game she held her serve to take a 4-1 lead. By the sixth game she again broke her opponent’s serve. By not giving a single break point opportunity in the seventh game, she held her serve and smashed two back-to-back aces to secure a 6-1 victory.
The first set saw Madison smash 3 aces, 3 winners and with 29 points which were almost three times more than Fanning’s, Madison bagged the first set in just 19 minutes of the match.
Looking for a quick victory of two sets Madison wanted to power through the second but the Kiwi wasn’t going to let that happen just as yet. Fanning took a notch higher in her style and hung out blow for a blow with the star player.
This time it was Fanning who opened the second set and in the first two games both players won on their serves. However, in the third game Madison broke Fanning to take the lead but Fanning immediately broke back to equalize the score at 2-2. Again, during the fifth and sixth game the two held their serves but pouncing at another opportunity Madison broke Fanning, only to see the Kiwi break back to even the score at 4-4. Neither of the players was letting the other take a lead and instead in the next two games each held their serve to equalize the score at 5-5. During the eleventh game Fanning held her serve and in the twelfth Madison pushed the match into a tie break by winning on her serve. Not wanting to throw the gauntlet Fanning was the first to kick off in the tie break and by allowing only one point to her adversary she raced towards the finishing line and hence bagged the second set.
With a set apiece, the two players were now duelling for the deciding set. Opening the set was Madison and the two players won on their alternate sets. Although, Madison was first to break in the third game, Fanning broke back in the fourth. The two then went on to breaking each other one more time in the fifth and sixth game to equalize the score at 3-3. Breaking her opponent for the last time in the seventh game, Madison won the third set by holding her serve in the eighth.
The 16 year-old Fanning came close to causing a big upset at the United States Open Junior tournament but being the crowd favourite and with an assertive play, Keys held her head high as she made her way in to the second round of the event.
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