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Writer's pictureBevan Jones

KEYS REIGNS SUPREME IN ADELAIDE


Madison Keys has won her sixth WTA title after taking out the final of the Adelaide International 2 against fellow American Alison Riske 6-1, 6-2 in only one hour and six minutes.


Keys is looking in ominous form with the Australian Open kicking off on Monday.


The current World No. 87 was coming off a tense semi-final win on Friday night for Keys in with another American and No. 3 seed Cori “Coco” Gauff that went for two hours and eight minutes.


Keys showed that even at the age of 27 she is still one of the fittest players on the circuit and is getting back to the form that saw her reach a career high ranking of World No. 7 back in 2016.


The preparation for the final was not ideal for Riske after her semi-final opponent Slovenian No. 4 seed Tamara Zidansek withdrew before the match with an abdominal injury and fellow American Madison Brengle retired hurt with a calf injury at 3-3 in the first set during their quarter-final match.


Riske appeared sluggish and in the seventh meeting between the two, the former World No. 18 had no answer for the power of her fellow American, Keys taking the first set in only 27 minutes.


The first three games were on serve, the power of former World No. 7 Keys on show and one highlight was a terrific backhand winner down the line which made it 40-0, Keys on to win it and lead 2-1.


Keys then got the crucial break in the fourth game to lead 3-1, at 30-40, the former No. 7 finished the game off with a powerful forehand winner.


With an impressive game on serve, the 27-year-old had the game on her terms and led 4-1.

Keys got another break in the sixth game to lead it 5-1, whilst the pair had some terrific rallies, Riske made crucial unforced errors whilst trying to match the power of Keys.

Down 40-15 and two set points, Riske then got it back to deuce after finishing off nicely with a backhand volley and forcing Keys into a rare unforced error.

Keys was playing with supreme confidence and eventually went on to take the first set 6-1.

The 2017 US Open runner up continued her great form in the second set taking the early break and holding serve to lead 2-0.

In one of the games of the match so far, Riske then stayed composed on serve to get it back to 2-1.

With an ace to start the fourth game and a powerful forehand winner and then an easy forehand volley smash, Keys was up 40-0 in the blink of an eye.

Riske won a couple of points in a row to get it back to 40-30, however Keys took the game and with it a 3-1 lead and she was looking unstoppable.

Riske held serve in the fifth game despite facing a couple of break points and she was still in it at 2-3 in the second set.

Keys got the crucial break again in the seventh game and eventually went on to win the second set 6-2 and the championship was hers.

In the men’s doubles final, No. 3 seeds Wesley Koolhof (Netherlands) and Neal Skupski (Great Britain) have capped off a sensational couple of weeks, winning the championship 7-6(5), 6-4 against No. 6 seeds Ariel Behar (Uruguay) and Gonzalo Escobar (Ecuador).

Last week Koolhof and Skupski took out the Melbourne Summer Set and leading into the final, they had not dropped a single set in the whole Adelaide International 2.

Behar and Escobar also came into the final in good form, having been semi-finalists in last week’s Adelaide International 1.

Games were on serve in the first set at 3-3 when Behar and Escobar broke Koolhof and Skupski to lead 4-3.

Koolhof and Skupski broke back immediately and when they held serve the game was back on their terms with a 5-4 lead.


The first set went for 54 minutes and eventually finished with a tie break with the No. 3 seeds Koolhof and Skupski taking it 7-5.


It was tense again in the second set with games on serve until the crucial break of serve in the fifth game by Koolhof and Skupski to take a 3-2 lead, they then held serve to set up a 4-2 lead.


Behar and Escobar held serve and broke back again in the eighth game and suddenly it was 4-4.


Koolhof and Skupski then got the crucial break in the ninth game to lead 5-4 and in the blink of the eye they were serving for the match, eventually going on to win it 6-4.

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