In Madrid, Coco Gauff secured her spot in the Mutua Madrid Open Round of 16 with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 victory over Ann Li on Saturday, joining her compatriot Madison Keys.
Four other American players also remain in contention to reach the Round of 16: third seed Jessica Pegula, No. 11 Emma Navarro, No. 32 Sofia Kenin, and Peyton Stearns.
After dropping the first two games against Li, Gauff won eight consecutive games and cruised to the win. This result matches Gauff`s previous best performances in Madrid from 2022 and 2024. The Madrid Open is one of only three tournaments where she has competed four or more times without reaching the quarterfinals, the others being Wimbledon and the Miami Open.
Gauff is scheduled to face the winner of the match between No. 16 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia and Belinda Bencic on Monday.
Gauff, who recently turned 21, has demonstrated exceptional consistency on clay, particularly against opponents ranked outside the Top 50. Following her initial loss to Martina Trevisan at Roland Garros in 2020, she has since won all 29 subsequent matches against players outside the Top 50 on this surface.
Against Li, Gauff successfully converted five out of nine break points, bringing her season total to 70 conversions out of 128 opportunities (54.7%). This places her third among WTA Tour players for break point conversion percentage, trailing only Polina Kudermetova (56.2%) and Emma Raducanu (56.1%).
Earlier in the tournament, Madison Keys avenged a recent straight-sets loss to Anna Kalinskaya in Charleston by defeating her 7-5, 7-6 (3) in Madrid.
World No. 30 Kalinskaya held three set points in the second set, but Keys saved them and then dominated the tiebreak, winning six of the final seven points. Keys was effective on her serve, saving nine out of 12 break points faced, while Kalinskaya failed to convert any of her four opportunities.
Keys, the fifth seed, awaits the winner of the Monday night match between No. 11 seed Emma Navarro and No. 19 seed Donna Vekic. This season, only World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka (12 wins) has recorded more victories against seeded opponents than Keys (11 wins).
Keys achieved a significant milestone, becoming only the third American player, after Serena and Venus Williams, to secure over 100 match wins in WTA 1000 tournaments. Her 24 clay-court victories in this category surpass Venus`s total, placing Keys second behind Serena for the most clay wins by an American in WTA 1000 events.
Keys added four aces to her season count, bringing her total to 124. She currently ranks third on the WTA Tour in aces this season, behind Clara Tauson (159) and Linda Noskova (127).
