Keys returns to Wimbledon fourth round with Anisimova upset

No. 26 seed and Eastbourne champion Madison Keys' red-hot grass-court summer continued with an upset of 2025 finalist Amanda Anisimova in the third round of Wimbledon on Saturday.

Keys lost the only previous meeting between the two players last year at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF, as Anisimova came from a set behind to take the all-American affair. But events reversed themselves on Centre Court in 1 hour and 40 minutes, with Keys earning her eighth straight match win in the last two weeks, a 30th career Wimbledon match win, and a berth in the Round of 16 at the All England Club for a sixth time in her career 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Keys told reporters after the match that reaching the second week of a Grand Slam tournament for the 25th time is "something that I am incredibly proud of."

"I think it's kind of crazy that it's like this kind of number," she said. "I think if you told me when I was first starting my career it would still be happening now, I think that would probably be the thing I'm proudest of. Just continuing to be competitive, continuing to be a part of, just someone that could go deep into a slam consistently, it's always something that I had as a goal when I was younger, to just be someone who could contend consistently.

"I think the reality is also, having been in this position before, it only gets harder now. It's like this is kind of the first hurdle. Then it seems like every round from now is like its own mini tournament."

Despite her decorated career to date, Keys achieved something new by taking the court against Anisimova. She had never before played on Centre Court in her Wimbledon career, and said the match "played out kind of how I expected it to."

Sixth seed Anisimova credited her serve with pulling her through her second-round win against Sofia Kenin, but the stroke was erratic for her against Keys. After hitting eight double faults combined in her first two rounds, Anisimova hit seven against Keys -- including a key one on break point in the second set to help spark the former Australian Open champion's comeback.

"I kind of felt like it was really going to be whoever could get break point chances and just kind of capitalize on them as quickly as possible was probably going to be the one that was able to win the match," Keys said.

"We weren't going to have 45-ball rallies. I think it was just after the first set, I just felt like if I could get myself in a couple more of her service games, even just a couple of points, I feel like in the first set I think I had a break point chance, maybe one, but I felt like a lot of her service games I wasn't sort of putting any pressure on her. She was holding fairly easily.

"So instead of trying to get, like, too big picture and make myself think like I have to break, it was really just, Let me see if I can get to 30 in the game, just so I feel like I'm getting in some of these games. I think kind of focusing on that helped a lot. I just felt like after that, it was continuing to try to serve well."

With No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina and No. 3 seed Iga Swiatek also falling on Saturday, the highest seed remaining in the bottom half of the women's draw is No. 9 Linda Noskova -- Keys' next opponent. The big-hitting Czech had her own three-set comeback against No. 17 seed Sorana Cirstea in her third-round match, where she saved a match point late in the decider before winning a deciding tiebreak 2-6, 6-3, 7-6[9].

"I think it's going to be similar in some ways, so at least I know kind of what I have ahead of me," Keys said. "Like I said, at this point now, every match is its own tournament in a big way. I feel like the occasion changes things. She's been playing fantastic tennis ... just broken into the top 10, won Berlin, beat a lot of really great players. It's going to be a little bit different in that way."