Madison Keys starts US Open with victory after Wimbledon injury

Madison Keys has earned a place in the second round of the US Open on her return from injury.

The 14th-seeded American scored a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Czech Katerina Siniakova at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Monday, less than two months after a leg injury ended her participation in Wimbledon 2024.

Therefore, Keys will face Australian Maya Joint in the second round on Wednesday.

“It's been a summer of a lot of rehab in the gym,” Keys said after the match, in which she won five of 10 break points. “I tried to play in Toronto, but it was a little bit too fast. I wasn't quite ready. I also felt like I took a lot of positives from that match, just because I was still playing well, and it wasn't until the end of the second set that things kind of went wrong, so I felt like I wasn't that far off.”

“I think it was really important to give myself a few more weeks to get back to 100 percent. We were able to do everything we could in the six weeks we had.”

After qualifying for the first round of the tournament in Toronto, Keys was forced to retire in the second round of the Canadian Open due to hip problems.

She had already missed a month of play due to her leg injury at Wimbledon, but it was clear that the 29-year-old was not yet ready to play again.

“I think the frustrating thing is you work so hard to get to your fitness level and base level and all that, and then something happens and all of a sudden it all seems to be gone,” Keys said. “It's all the little things you have to do – it's baby steps. I think that's kind of the frustrating part, when you just keep thinking, a week ago I was fine.”

“I could do all sorts of things, and now all of a sudden it's just baby steps, so, okay, it's just about basic strength, and then you can go on the court and start training the endurance side.”

Even though it happened during his farewell to the traditional tournament, Dominic Thiem finally had his US Open moment.

After winning his first and only Grand Slam title in front of an empty Arthur Ashe Stadium in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thiem enjoyed playing in front of a full house on Monday despite losing in three sets to American Ben Shelton.

“To say thank you to all of you,” he said after the game. “And to make up for what we missed four years ago.”

American Taylor Townsend's impressive summer continued on Monday with a 6-2, 7-5 win over Italian Martina Trevisan.

Townsend hit four aces and benefited from Trevisan's six double faults to secure his place in the duel with Spaniard Paula Badosa on Wednesday.

Townsend, who is currently ranked 46th in his career, just reached the quarterfinals of the Canadian Open and the round of 16 in Cincinnati – he had to qualify for both events.

She also won the doubles titles at Wimbledon with Katerina Siniakova and the Washington Open with Asia Muhammed.