Keys gets past the round that ended her US Open last year: the first

Madison Keys had lost only six of her 52 previous Grand Slam first-round matches, and the most recent of them was here, twelve months ago, to Renata Zarazua at the us Open. She removed that risk on Tuesday evening under a closed roof, beating Russian teenager Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round.

Keys next plays the winner between Czech qualifier Lucie Havlickova and Hungarian Anna Bondar.

It was closer than the scoreline suggests and closer than either player’s serve deserved. Ten of the 22 games went against serve. Keys converted six of her eight break points and held only seven of her 11 service games, saving two of the six break points she faced, and she needed a second match point after Korneeva saved the first.

What separated them was quality of shot rather than reliability. The American hit 21 winners to seven, made 30 unforced errors to 26, won nine of her 15 points at the net and took 75 of the 143 points played. She landed 57% of her first serves and served five double faults.

A debutant who does not come from behind

Korneeva, 19, was making her US Open main-draw debut and reached a career-high World No. 67 last week. She has beaten five top-50 players in her career, all of them this season and four on hard courts, the best of them Iva Jovic in the third round at Toronto, and she has reached two tour-level semi-finals.

She also arrived with a pattern that decided this match. Korneeva had won the first set in 11 of her 12 career tour-level wins, and nine of those wins were in straight sets. Once Keys took the opener 7-5, the recovery was never likely to come.

Keys is playing her 15th US Open and her 53rd Grand Slam main draw. She was runner-up here in 2017, beaten by Sloane Stephens in an all-American final, and reached the semi-finals in 2018 and 2023. She won the Australian Open in 2025, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, eight years after that first major final, the longest gap between a player’s first two Grand Slam finals in the Open era.

Her 2026 has been solid rather than spectacular: 12-8 on hard courts with quarter-finals at Cincinnati, Adelaide and Brisbane, and a title on the grass at Eastbourne, her third there. Since 2016, only Elina Svitolina and Iga Swiatek have matched her feat of winning 10 or more Grand Slam matches in seven separate seasons.

US Open 2026, women’s draw, Round 1:

A. Sabalenka [1] d. C. Osorio: 6-2, 6-4
P. Iatcenko (Q) d. R. Zarazua: 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(7)
O. Selekhmeteva d. A. Ito: 6-2, 6-4
K. Rakhimova d. B. Krejcikova [27]: 7-6(4), 6-2
T. Townsend d. M. Chwalinska [20]: 6-2, 6-3
T. Preston (W) d. A. Parks: 6-3, 6-3
K. Pliskova d. H. Vandewinkel: 2-6, 7-5, 6-3
D. Shnaider [15] d. D. Snigur: 6-0, 6-4
M. Kostyuk [11] d. S. Hunter (Q): 6-4, 6-1
S. Stephens (W) d. C. Tauson: 6-4, 6-1
K. Birrell d. P. Marcinko: 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-3
E. Alexandrova [18] d. M. Kessler: 6-2, 6-2
A. Li [29] d. A. Ruzic: 7-5, 6-1
D. Vekic d. T. Gibson: 6-2, 4-6, 6-3
L. Tararudee d. E. Kalieva (Q): 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-2
L. Noskova [6] d. K. Volynets: 7-5, 6-1
J. Pegula [3] d. E. Ruse: 6-3, 6-2
S. Kenin (W) d. V. Williams (W): 6-2, 7-6(6)
M. Sawangkaew d. P. Udvardy: 6-4, 6-3
L. Fernandez [31] d. S. Zhang: 6-3, 6-2
J. Paolini [19] d. V. Erjavec: 6-3, 3-6, 6-4
L. Stefanini (Q) d. D. Yastremska: 6-3, 4-6, 6-1
D. Parry d. V. Golubic: 7-5, 6-4
S. Cirstea [16] d. J. Grabher: 6-3, 6-0
E. Svitolina [9] d. S. Sierra: 6-1, 6-2
M. Joint d. L. Samsonova: 3-6, 6-2, 6-2
X. Wang d. E. Arango: 6-4, 6-2
A. Kalinskaya [21] d. A. Blinkova: 6-4, 6-3
E. Navarro [26] d. L. Boisson: 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-3
C. McNally d. A. Koevermans (Q): 7-5, 6-1
K. Boulter d. C. Lee (W): 6-4, 3-6, 6-0
K. Muchova [7] d. S. Kraus: 6-3, 6-0
M. Andreeva [5] vs J. Tjen – not played
G. Knutson (Q) vs E. Lys – not played
N. Bartunkova vs M. Sherif – not played
T. Maria vs J. Ostapenko [30] – not played
A. Potapova [24] vs D. Semenistaja (L) – not played
A. Rus (Q) vs L. Jeanjean (W) – not played
L. Tagger d. T. Korpatsch: 6-0, 7-6(4)
A. Anisimova [10] d. A. Krueger: 6-1, 6-3
I. Jovic [14] vs M. Frech – not played
M. Linette vs F. Jones (Q) – not played
O. Oliynykova vs R. Brantmeier (W) – not played
M. Stoiana (Q) vs A. Eala [17] – not played
C. Bucsa d. S. Bejlek [28]: 7-5, 4-6, 6-1
H. Sakatsume (Q) d. A. Kalinina: 6-3, 6-3
D. Kasatkina vs P. Badosa – not played
Z. Sonmez vs C. Gauff [4] – not played
I. Swiatek [8] d. X. Wang: 6-2, 6-3
N. Podoroska d. S. Waltert: 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3
H. Dart (Q) d. P. Stearns: 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
M. Bouzkova [25] d. E. Jacquemot: 6-2, 6-2
M. Keys [22] d. A. Korneeva: 7-5, 6-4
L. Havlickova (Q) vs A. Bondar – not played
Q. Zheng (Q) d. K. Liutova (Q): 4-6, 6-3, 6-1
Y. Putintseva vs B. Bencic [12] – not played
N. Osaka [13] d. A. Zakharova: 7-6(6), 7-6(3)
K. Siniakova d. E. Cocciaretto: 6-3, 6-2
M. Timofeeva d. T. Zidansek (Q): 6-3, 7-5
K. Quevedo vs E. Mertens [23] – not played
M. Sakkari [32] vs R. Montgomery (Q) – not played
Y. Starodubtseva vs E. Seidel – not played
D. Vidmanova vs J. Bouzas Maneiro – not played
T. Frodin (W) vs E. Rybakina [2] – not played