Madison Keys has breezed into the second spherical of the Charleston Open with a 6-4 6-3 victory over wildcard Emma Navarro, whose father owns the green-clay event.
Keys, the 2017 US Open runner-up, went up 4-0 in a blistering begin in sizzling temperatures in one among 5 all-American matches within the opening spherical of the WTA 500 occasion.
“Starting off on a good foot is really important normally,” stated Keys, who gained the Charleston title in 2019 and is the ninth seed this 12 months.
“But especially so when you’re playing someone young and someone in front of a home crowd.”
The extra skilled Keys wanted simply 75 minutes to knock off the 2021 NCAA collegiate singles champion, hitting 29 winners, together with seven aces, and broke serve 4 instances to enhance to 18-8 in Charleston all time.
“She came out playing really aggressively. I was knocked back a little bit at the beginning,” stated the 21-year-old Navarro, who’s ranked a career-best 118th this week and was enjoying in simply the sixteenth tour-level contest of her profession.
“I think that, combined with some nerves, kind of set me back a little bit.
“It’s cool to play somebody who I’ve watched after they have been at this stage, and I wasn’t … undoubtedly a studying expertise.”
Her father, Ben, is a local billionaire who bought the Charleston tournament in 2018 and whose company also owns the Western & Southern Open in Ohio.
In other first-round action, 2020 Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin was a 6-1 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 winner over Aliaksandra Sasnovich in a rain-interrupted match. Play was stopped because of a downpour Monday night while Kenin was ahead 3-0 in the third set.
No.12 seed Paula Badosa started the day’s schedule in the principle stadium with a 6-3 6-1 win towards Mayar Sherif, whereas Bernarda Pera beat Claire Liu 6-4 6-7 (1-7) 6-3.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
