Madison Keys produced one of the most dramatic escapes of this year’s US Open, and Serena Williams’ coach Rennae Stubbs and ESPN commentator was quick to salute it. Down 5-7, 6-4, 2-5 to world No. 73 Anna Bondar, Keys faced five separate match points across two different games before completing a stunning turnaround.

“Say what you want about Madison Keys but that was a hell of a fight and she’ll never not go down without swinging!!!” she wrote. “Just balling from 3-5 down in the 3rd set. Never stopped ripping FHs in the TB! Great win! Could this be the match that turns this year around for her at slams!”

The first lifeline came when Bondar, serving for the match at 5-2, went up 40-15 before hitting back-to-back double faults, allowing Keys to break back to 5-3. Serving to stay alive at 3-5, Keys fell behind 15-40 and faced two more match points, wiping both out with blistering forehand winners on the lines. A fifth match point came shortly after, and Keys got rid of that one as well before holding serve. 

The deciding-set tie-break was again a stressful affair. Bondar raced to a 5-3 lead before Keys won four consecutive points to turn it to 7-5 and then closed out the last three points to seal the tiebreak 10-5 in a 2 hours and 58 minutes match. 

Keys found another gear when it mattered the most

After the first two sets, Anna Bondar, who had taken her chances, became more conservative when she got Keys on the brink, as her winner count dropped from 9 in the first set to just 3 in the second and 5 in the third. Keys did the polar opposite as the pressure increased. She started playing ultra-aggressively, as she scored 21 winners solely in the deciding set and finished off with 51 winners across the whole match.

“Yeah, that was, that was something, huh? No, no stress though. We all knew I had it, right?” she said during her on-court interview. “I mean, you guys got me through that match and I’m so grateful and I love playing here. And it’s, I mean, it literally gives me chills. It’s the greatest thing in the world.” 

She described walking out onto Court 17 to a standing ovation as one of the best atmospheres she has ever played in, saying simply getting to keep coming back in front of these fans “is just the greatest gift in the world.”

“I think today it was really just trying to remind myself that the match wasn’t over yet and there was still another point to be played,” she said, recalling the forehand that saved the fifth match point. “And then that one that I hit everything but my strings. I just felt like that was a good omen.” 

Even her guest box, including her husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo, could not hide the tension, something Keys joked about needing to make easier on them next round. The crowd’s energy helped her carry through the match, as the home support on Court 17 was a genuine factor in getting her over the line. 

After winning the Australian Open in 2025, Keys was expected to make regular deep runs in Grand Slam tournaments, but it did not turn out to be like that. The deepest run she made was last year’s French Open, when she reached the quarterfinals. The most shocking exit was at the US Open itself, where she lost in the first round against Renata Zarazua in a gruelling three-hour battle. This year, she again found herself in an early treble, but this time she won that three-hour battle against the Hungarian. 

Keys now awaits the winner of Qinwen Zheng and Yulia Putintseva in the third round.