US Teen Madison Keys Loses To Lucie Safarova At US Open

August 31, 2011 2:22 PM

Madison Keys of the US reacts to a shot agianst Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic during a Women’s single match at the US Open tennis tournament August 31, 2011 at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Safarova won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4. (credit : STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Filed under

Sports, Tennis, US Open

Related tags

Lucie Safarova, Madison Keys, US Open

NEW YORK (AP) - American teenager Madison Keys showed her youth late in her second-ever match at a Grand Slam tournament, repeatedly blowing leads in a loss to 27th-seeded Lucie Safarova at the U.S. Open.

The 24-year-old Safarova won 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the third round. The 16-year-old Keys was the youngest player since 2005 to win a match at Flushing Meadows and at No. 455 the lowest-ranked woman in the draw.

She won the first five games en route to an easy victory in the opening set, then was up a break in the second.

In the third set, Keys twice went up a break only to give it back in the next game.

Keys was playing in her first Grand Slam tournament and just her third main draw at the tour level.

US Teen Madison Keys Loses To Lucie Safarova At US Open

Christopher Lancette

If Madison Keys can avoid injury and burnout, I would be shocked if she doesn’t rise to become a Top 10 player in the years ahead. I don’t normally get too impressed with the young potential stars but Keys has the power and strokes to climb high into the rankings. She’s also a delightful young person, as I found in a little video interview I did with her a few weeks ago: http://bit.ly/ngrmhK