'Nervous' Keys overcomes early jitters to move into US Open second round

[p]Just ‌months after winning her first Grand Slam ‌title at the 2025 Australian Open, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/keys-madison/QwU996PK/"]Keys[/a] crashed out ‌in the first round at Flushing Meadows after ‌being overcome by debilitating nerves.[/p][p]But Keys felt more at home this time around - improving her first-serve percentage from 48% ‌in the first set to nearly ⁠70% in the second. ‌She will next meet either Czech [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/havlickova-lucie/CrhZ6kCa/"]Lucie Havlickova[/a] or Hungarian [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bondar-anna/O8s9yjMD/"]​Anna Bondar[/a].[/p][embed guid="8ed1f1e7-1da1-4bae-8346-86a2b9f5981a" url="https://x.com/usopen/status/2094838105190625536" social-type="twitter" /][p]"[b]It's so hard to play the first round of a Grand Slam. So ​nervous and wanting to do well[/b]," said Keys. "[b]So grateful I was able to fight through that[/b]."[/p][p]Keys looked at ⁠first as though ​she would cruise through the match on Arthur Ashe Stadium as she won the first three games but the Russian broke back in the fifth when ‌Keys hit a forehand shot wildly out of bounds.[/p][p]After trading breaks again, Keys broke her opponent on her third set point with a fine backhand strike and improved her level across the board in a competitive second set.[/p][p]Down 4-2 in the second set, [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/korneeva-alina/OlQsiYlU/"]Korneeva[/a] came out on top following a nifty cat-and-mouse exchange near the net to break back ‌but her relief was short-lived.[/p][image alt="Match stats" id="998ed0e7-dcc3-4d8e-aeb0-2e55386fda6b" credit-line="Flashscore" guid="9e85f9d2-06e2-4324-9f7b-b49a6d3b58ee" original-width="2160" original-height="2700" /][p]She was left scrambling for ​a backhand shot just out of reach ‌as she dropped serve again in the eighth game.[/p][p]Keys handed her opponent the break with a handful of mistakes in the ninth but regained her composure [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/tennis/keys-m-QwU996PK/korneeva-a-OlQsiYlU/?mid=06hs6XvC"]to clinch it in the next ⁠game with one ⁠of her signature forehand ‌strikes[/a].[/p][infobox id="3dc51b3a-107f-482b-9173-a97d347ef1b3" /]