Madison Keys continues stunning record against top-30 opponents as she books Iga Swiatek rematch

Oli Dickson Jefford 29 Apr 2025 4:34 PM

Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek.

Madison Keys continued her incredible start to 2025 as she breezed past Donna Vekic to book a Madrid Open rematch against defending champion Iga Swiatek.

World No 5 and fifth seed Keys made light work of 19th seed Vekic on Tuesday, beating the Olympic silver medallist 6-2, 6-3 to reach the quarter-final of the WTA 1000 event.

Victory for the American seals back-to-back Madrid Open quarter-finals for the American, who beat Coco Gauff in the fourth round twelve months ago.

Aged 30, Keys is now the second oldest woman since the tournament first launched in 2009 to reach consecutive quarter-finals in the Spanish capital.

The only woman older than Keys to achieve that is tennis icon Serena Williams, who reached four straight quarter-finals in her thirties, from 2012-15.

Keys will hope to follow in Williams’ footsteps and lift the title in the Spanish capital, with the former world No 1 triumphing in both 2012 and 2013.

Victory over world No 21 Vekic also continues the American’s incredible record against opponents ranked inside the top 30 in 2025.

Keys has contested 15 such matches so far in 2025 and has won 14 of them, the most top-30 wins for any player on the WTA Tour this season.

The only player inside the top 30 to beat Keys in 2025 was world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who thrashed the 30-year-old 6-0, 6-1 in the Indian Wells semi-final.

However, that result only came after Keys had stunned Sabalenka in the Australian Open final back in January, lifting her first Grand Slam title in Melbourne.

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The only other women to beat the Australian Open champion in 2025 have all been ranked outside of the top 30 at the time of their victory.

World No 50 Clara Tauson beat Keys at the Auckland International, before the world No 5 also fell to world No 140 Alex Eala at the Miami Open, and world No 33 Anna Kalinskaya in Charleston.

Up next for Keys in the Madrid Open last eight is world No 2 Iga Swiatek, one of the top-30 players she has already beaten in 2025.

Keys beat the Pole on her way to the Australian Open title, saving a match point to down Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) in an enthralling semi-final inside the Rod Laver Arena.

This will be their first meeting since then, though it will not be the first time they have met in Madrid.

Swiatek and Keys met in the semi-final of the WTA 1000 event twelve months ago, with the Pole cruising towards a 6-1, 6-3 triumph before ultimately claiming her maiden Madrid title at the end of the week.

The world No 2 has a 4-2 overall lead in their head-to-head has won all three of their clay-court matches, with further wins over Keys in Rome in 2021 and 2024.

The winner of the quarter-final will face either seventh seed Mirra Andreeva or fourth seed Coco Gauff in the last four.