Krejcikova grinds past Keys to reach round of 16 at Miami for the first time

Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the No 16 seed, moved into the last 16 of the Miami Open by beating American Madison Keys, the No 19 seed, 7-6 (4), 6-3 at the Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night.

Krejcikova avenged a 6-3, 6-2 loss at the hands of Keys in the 2022 Australian Open quarter-finals, and improved to 15-5 on the season as she reached the round of 16 at Miami for the first time.

The No 13-ranked Czech, will face the winner of the match between compatriot Marie Bouzkova, the No 31 seed, and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, next.

Krejcikova – Today I won the match mentally

Krejcikova said that her strategy was to grind out longer points against Keys and force the powerful American into longer rallies and – hopefully – unforced errors.

It paid off.

“I think the key was to try to stay in the rallies as long as I could because I felt that if I stay longer in the rally I would have a little bit of an advantage and that she would make errors,” she said.

Keys, a 2016 Miami quarter-finalist falls to 11-5 on the season with the loss.

“I’m happy that I’m improving, and I think today I really won the match more mentally, because I felt really strong in my head today,” she said.

Ahead of her victory, the Czech won against Belarusian Aliaksandra Sasnovich (6-3, 6-2).

Keys, ranked No 21, won against wildcard Robin Montgomery (6-4, 6-4) in the previous round of the Miami tournament.

Miami WTA 1000, other third-round results (Hard Rock Stadium, hard, USD 8.800.000, most recent results first):

• Marie Bouzkova vs. Aryna Sabalenka: sunday
• Petra Kvitova (15) beat Donna Vekic (22): 6-4, 7-6 (3)
• Ekaterina Alexandrova (18) beat Belinda Bencic (9): 7-6 (8), 6-3
• Sorana Cirstea beat Karolina Muchova (Q): 7-5, 6-1
• Bianca Andreescu beat Sofia Kenin: 6-4, 6-4
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Karolina Pliskova (17): 6-1, 6-2
• Varvara Gracheva (Q) beat Magdalena Frech (LL): 6-1, 6-2
• Elise Mertens beat Petra Martic (29): 6-4, 6-3
• Elena Rybakina (10) beat Paula Badosa (21): 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
• Martina Trevisan (25) beat Claire Liu: 4-6, 7-5, 6-4
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Danielle Collins (30): 6-1, 7-6
• Magda Linette (20) beat Victoria Azarenka (14): 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-4
• Anastasia Potapova (27) beat Coco Gauff (6): 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2
• Qinwen Zheng (23) beat Liudmila Samsonova (12): 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-3
• Jelena Ostapenko (24) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (13): 6-2, 4-6, 6-3