(August 25, 2025) FLUSHING, NY – Australian Open champion Madison Keys, the sixth seed, lost to world No. 82 Renata Zarazua of Mexico on Monday afternoon in Arthur Ashe Stadium at the US Open 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5 .
Errors did in the 2017 finalist – total of 89, including 14 double-faults. Her Mexican opponent hit just 8 winners but broke the American’s serve six times.
“I feel like today I was just, for the first time in a while, where my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” said Keys. “I felt like I was just slow, I wasn’t seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork. “
Keys was wearing tape on her left thigh during the match.
“It’s hard, obviously, “ Keys said. “I’ve had a lot of success, have probably won the most matches I’ve ever won in a year, but then losing today — and I think it’s more so, like, the way that I played today, it kind of sucks. But I think big picture, again, if you told me at the beginning of the year what I was signing up for, I would obviously say yes.
“So that’s allegedly the beauty of the sport.”
“I’m just very happy,” said Zarazua who produced her first top ten win on the WTA Tour . “I think it hasn’t really kicked in yet, but yeah, I guess I’m just really excited, honestly.
“It was great being out there for, like, three hours or so.”
“I feel like the experiences of playing in the other stadiums at the other slams kind of helped me a lot today. I was just, you know, like, obviously I didn’t want the nerves to be what let me down in the match. I thought I was playing really well the past few days and practicing well, so I was like I’ve just got to find a way to use that in my advantage.
“Yeah, the fear, the nerves, all of that, just tried to leave them on the side and just focus on my game and what I had to do. “
“I looked up many players, like Serena, Venus, a lot of the players that I watched growing up. But also, in Mexico, yeah, it’s probably not the most famous sport. A little bit more like soccer or some other — I used to do gymnastics before and a little bit of diving, which is a bit more popular in Mexico.
“Then I got into tennis just because my brother was playing, and he was, like, I think this is a bit safer sport. So just, that’s how I kind of like just got into tennis, because I couldn’t do the three of them at the same time.”
“I think definitely tennis is becoming a bit more, like, popular, more global. I would say a lot of people are watching a bit more than before maybe.
“They’re also doing a great job in the slams and in other tournaments to kind of promote them pretty well. Just making it really nice for the fans, as well, said the 5-foot-3 27-year-old Mexican who lives in Florida..
More to follow…
