In one of the most intriguing first round matches from the WTA draw, Madison Keys defeated Alize Cornet, 6-2 6-4, to progress into the second round of Cincinnati.  I was hoping it would be a three set epic, but this was a reasonably straightforward match for Madison.  The stats weren’t pretty with a combined 73 unforced errors in just 79 minutes of play.  Madison broke in the very first game and never really looked back from there, dominating with her huge groundstrokes and causing Cornet all sorts of problems with her serve.  Cornet broke once in the first set, but really struggled to get a read on the Keys’s serve, which was kicking up a lot.  Keys hit some delightful winners, the best of those coming on the penultimate point with a cracking passing shot.  Madison neutralised her pretty hefty unforced error count with enough winners on the day.

Alize seemed to be bothered by the heat and humidity, and never looked comfortable on the court.  She was also surprisingly quiet with just one racquet throw and one verbal outburst… there must have been something wrong! After beating Serena Williams at Wimbledon, Cornet has lost five out of six matches, falling in the first round of Bastad, Washington and now Cincy.  This was an important win for Keys, who has also not had a great deal of success since Wimbledon.  Madison has a tough draw and goes through to play Maria Sharapova in what should be a super second round match in Cincy.