19th August, 2019
Madison Keys and Russian Daniil Medvedev, were winners of the Cincinnati crowns on Sunday, with the victories shooting up the duo in the tennis rankings to be released today.
Keys will now return to the top 10, while Medvedev will become World Number 5.
Keys came from a break down in both sets to defeat Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) on Sunday to win the WTA Cincinnati crown.
The 2017 US Open finalist notched her fifth career title and second this season after a win in Charleston in April.
“If my team had told me a week ago that I would be here, I would have laughed in their face,” admitted Keys, who had endured two opening-match defeats since a second-round exit at Wimbledon.
Keys belted a total of 43 winners with 33 unforced errors and broke Kuznetsova three times.
Kuznetsova was the fourth Grand Slam winner Keys beat during the week, a string that included Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, reigning Wimbledon champion Simona Halep and Venus Williams.
“It was a tough draw from the very start,” Keys said. “I definitely think I played some of my best tennis consistently this week.
I’m obviously really happy and really proud of myself,” she added, while stressing she won’t let the performance put more pressure on her at the US Open.
Daniil Medvedev beat World Number One, Novak Djokovic in the semi-final.
He came off back-to-back ATP finals defeats, to hold off David Goffin 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 Sunday to win the ATP Cincinnati Masters.
The ninth-seeded Russian finished with an ace after saving break points in the final game, lifting a first Masters 1000 trophy after settling for runner-up finishes to Nick Kyrgios in Washington and Rafael Nadal in Montreal last weekend.
“These have been the best three weeks of my life,” Medvedev said. “My mentality was the best, my serve was the best, my tennis has been really consistent.
“I didn’t have one bad match, I hope to continue this way for next few weeks.”