Almost another clash lost by 20th-ranked American Madison Keys

Last year, Madison Keys lost a tough three-set opening round at the United States Open tennis tournament, this time she almost went down and out in the second round at Flushing Meadows Wednesday afternoon.

The 28-year-old 20th ranked Keys from Orlando, Fla., had a real battle on her hands against unranked Camila Georgi of Italy. She won the first set at 6-4, but trouble brewed after that. She lost a close 7-5 second set on turnovers and quality shots from Gerogi.

In the third set, each time Georgi held serve, Keys had to struggle back on her own, Four times she faced match point, five times she fell behind 0-4, and dealt out nine aces, three straight in the third deciding set.

Keys, who highest ranking was No. 7 in 2000, had recently recovered from various injuries and had won her first round match over Dayana Kastemaka, 7-6, 6-3.

Now she had to contend with set three, she had to break Georgi and be consistent on her serves. Down 5-3 in that set, she held serve behind the run of aces, and then broke Georgi in a long game that included five douses, a 12th double fault by Georgi, and tied it at 5-5 by again holding serve.

Keys then fell short at upending her opponent and trailed 6-5 before maintaining her serve and forcing a tie-breaker, which is now in the final set a 10-point victory and a two-point advantage.

She got her way to 4-0, then 4-2 before she scored twice on shots down each baseline. Georgi then got to within 8-5 before Keys ran off the next two points, one on her opponent’s serve and the other on her final ace.

“I had just too many unforced errors, but my serve bailed me out,” Keys said. “And she played a real good match, always hanging in there, but the important points I got from my serve and overcoming some scary match points got me through in a tough 2-hour tussle.”