Madison Keys delivered an absolutely breathtaking performance against Belinda Bencic to destroy the in-form Swiss 6-1 6-1 in the Indian Wells quarterfinal.
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Although the American entered the match riding a 15-match winning streak, her rival also won Abu Dhabi last month and also defeated Coco Gauff just a day earlier. With that being said, the expectation was that it would likely be a very tight meeting without much separating the two.
But right from the start of the match, there was only one player on the court - and it was Keys - who started the match with three consecutive breaks and a 5-0 lead. While the No. 5 seed failed to serve out the sixth game for a bagel, it didn't change much since she collected her fourth break of the set in the following game to bag the opener. The home favorite fired a stunning 17 winners during the first set.
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At the start of the second set, Bencic managed to hold to her serve in the second game and make it one game apiece. That turned out to be all from the former world No. 4 as Keys won the next five games to complete her dominant two-set win with only two games lost.
Keys set for an Australian Open final rematch versus Aryna Sabalenka?
In the last women's quarterfinal, top seed Sabalenka will take on Liudmila Samsonova. If the Belarusian tennis star gets the job done - which is expected - we will have a rematch of this year's Australian Open final in Indian Wells.
By winning the Adelaide International and the Australian Open, Keys claimed back-to-back titles for the first time in her career. Now, the 30-year-old is two wins away from also winning three titles in a row for the first time in her career.
