LONDON :American Madison Keys did not let an ailing opponent, underarm serve or the furnace-like conditions on Wimbledon’s Court 2 distract her from notching up a 6-7(4) 7-5 7-5 win over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday.
Keys’ hopes of extending her perfect 10-0 first-round record at the All England Club appeared to be in jeopardy when her Romanian rival bagged the first set with some sizzling shots from the baseline.
However, despite wrapping ice towels around her neck during the changeovers, the intense heat appeared to get to Ruse in the second set. She called on the trainer, who escorted the Romanian off court for treatment after checking her blood pressure.
With the break lasting close to 10 minutes, Australian Open champion Keys opted to stay in the zone by hitting serves as she waited for her opponent to return to the court.
Trailing 5-3, the scorching 32-degrees Celsius heat caused Ruse further problems as she collapsed to the ground in agony clutching her right thigh, stricken by a bout of cramp.
Once she was free of pain, the world number 58 got back on her feet to level the set at 5-5 and stood two games away from toppling the sixth seed.
Keys then produced the kind of form that carried her to a maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne earlier this year as she won four games on the trot to take the second set and surge into a 2-0 lead in the third.
As far as Ruse was concerned, desperate times called for desperate measures.
Facing further break points which would have left her trailing 3-0, Ruse whipped across an underarm serve that caught Keys by surprise as it landed on the outer edge of the line.
If the 30-year-old had secured the double break, it might well have been game over for Ruse.
Instead, Keys was broken when she served for the match at 5-4, doubling over the net after she raced forward to hit the ball on break point down.
It proved to be Ruse’s last hurrah though as Keys was screaming out a deafening ‘Come on’ just two games later after sealing victory. She will next face Serbia’s Olga Danilovic.
“Really tough match, she played really well, obviously she was suffering a few issues as it was quite toasty out here,” Keys said courtside as she wiped beads of sweat off her face and shoulders. “My serve got me through that match.
“Definitely a lot of crazy things happening. Once you have one or two of those things happen, you just assume that there’s going to be lots of them.
“Especially after the underhand serve, I was kind of waiting for something else wild to happen. It’s just one of those days where you kind of know anything goes, and you just have to be ready for everything.”
