Sara Bejlek Stuns Madison Keys to Reach Cincinnati Semi-Final

Sara Bejlek reached the first WTA 1000 semi-final of her career with a comeback victory over Madison Keys at the Cincinnati Open, extending a run in which the unseeded Czech has defeated three major champions. Bejlek won the quarter-final 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in two hours and 37 minutes, according to BBC Sport.

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Keys took the opening set and moved 3-1 ahead in the second, putting Bejlek under sustained pressure. The 20-year-old responded by winning five of the next six games to level the match and force a deciding set.

The contest remained tight enough to require a final-set tie-break, where Bejlek again had to recover from behind. She trailed 4-2 before turning the sequence around and taking the tie-break 7-5 to complete the upset.

Bejlek’s progress through Cincinnati has included wins over world number one Aryna Sabalenka in the fourth round and Barbora Krejcikova earlier in the tournament. Together with Keys, those results give the world number 35 three victories over major champions during her run to the last four.

The result also keeps Bejlek in contention for the second WTA title of her career. Her first came at the Abu Dhabi Open in February, where she entered the tournament as a qualifier and went on to win the championship. Her Cincinnati performance now marks another significant step at a higher-tier event.

Bejlek will face fourth seed Coco Gauff for a place in the final. Gauff advanced with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ukrainian 10th seed Marta Kostyuk and has now reached three consecutive semi-finals, following last-four appearances at Wimbledon and the Canadian Open earlier this month. The Cincinnati tournament comes shortly before the US Open, which begins in New York on August 30.