Madison Keys has made a winning start to her Adelaide International title defense and extended her perfect record at the tournament after ousting qualifier Tereza Valentova 6-4 6-1.
The American, who is officially listed as No. 2 seed at the Australian WTA 500 event, is basically the top seed since Jessica Pegula withdrew after the main draw was released.
As one of the four top-seeded players, Keys had a first-round bye before facing Valentova, who won two qualifying matches over the weekend and also overcame Jelena Ostapenko in the first round.
Early in the match, Valentova troubled Keys, but the American twice recovered from a break down to level the first set to three games apiece. After recovering from an early deficit, the defending champion opened a 5-4 lead before breaking Valentova in the 10th game when the Czech qualifier was serving to stay in the opener.
Valentova never recovered from losing the first set in a heartbreaking way as the American tennis star claimed two breaks in the second set to wrap up things in straight sets.
In the Adelaide quarterfinal, Keys will face No. 8 seed Victoria Mboko, who defeated Anna Kalinskaya. It will be the first meeting between the 30-year-old American and the 19-year-old Canadian.
Keys improves her Adelaide record to 11-0
In the past, Keys won the the Australian WTA 500 tournament in 2022 and 2025. Now, her record at the tournament stands at 11-0.
"I've never lost here so far, so I would like to keep that streak alive. That would be a pretty cool record of mine to have. So that's definitely the goal," the 30-year-old underlined in her pre-tournament press conference.
Keys is off to a strong in Adelaide and she is definitely looking like a strong candidate to make it back-to-back at the Australian tournament.
