No. 2 seed Madison Keys delivered a poor performance against 14th-seeded Anna Kalinskaya and saw her Charleston Open campaign come to an end in the round-of-16 following a 6-2 6-4 loss.
Just in the first set, the reigning Australian Open champion dropped her serve three times. While the American managed to stabilize a bit in the second set, she still got broken once - and since she failed to register any breaks - the No. 2 seed ended up losing in two sets.
In an hour and 20-minute contest, Keys sprayed 40 unforced errors - realized only one of her eight break point chances - and saved only one of five break points she faced.
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For Kalinskaya, who plays against Sofia Kenin in the Charleston quarterfinal, this was her first top-10 win in nearly a year.
Meanwhile, Keys has now picked up early exits in back-to-back matches since she was also upset by Alexandra Eala in the Miami Open third round.
Kalinskaya didn't hide her happiness after stunning Keys
In early 2025, the 26-year-old Russian fought illness and dealt with a persistent back issue, which negatively impacted her performance and led to several early defeats.
"This one is special. I needed this for my confidence. I had an unfortunate start to the year, but it's nice to be back and playing at such a high level. I think the key tonight was to change a little bit the rhythm; I did a few drop shots, especially in the first set," Kalinskaya said after beating Keys.
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"I didn't want to go into very long rallies, because she's a great player and she has unbelievable strong shots, so I tried to step in on the serve, be aggressive as much as I could, and be very consistent ... to keep the level, and I think that was the key."
Kalinskaya will now be hoping to also get the job done against Kenin and come two wins away from winning her first title of the year.
