American had been beset by anxiety and sunk in rankings but a change of mindset helped her stun Paula Badosa in Melbourne
As Madison Keys and Paula Badosa took to Rod Laver Arena on Sunday morning in Melbourne, their fourth-round match played out to the sound of frequent gasps from the crowd. With Keys, one of the biggest ball-strikers in recent memory, such noises can often be reactions to the size of her misses as well as the spectacle of her shotmaking. There is rarely a middle ground.
In this case, Keys spent 69 minutes destroying every ball in sight, and her top 10 opponent in the process, beating the eighth seed 6-3, 6-1 to reach the quarter-final of the Australian Open.