Tennis-Keys keeps eye on the ball to reach Wimbledon second round
LONDON (Reuters) -American Madison Keys did not let an ailing opponent or the furnace-like conditions on Wimbledon's Court 2 distract her from notching up a 6-7(4) 7-5 7-5 victory over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the first round of Wimbledon on Monday.
Keys' hopes of extending her perfect 10-0 first-round record at the All England Club appeared to be in jeopardy when her Romanian rival bagged the first set with some thundering shots from the baseline.
However, the intense heat appeared to get to Ruse in the second set and she called on the trainer, who escorted the Romanian off court for treatment after checking her blood pressure.
With the break lasting close to 10 minutes, Australian Open champion Keys opted to stay in the zone by hitting serves as she waited for her opponent to return to the court.
Trailing 5-3, the scorching 32-degrees Celsius heat caused Ruse further problems as she collapsed to the ground in agony clutching her right thigh, stricken by a bout of cramp.
Once she was free of pain, the world number 58 got back on her feet to level the set at 5-5 and stood two games away from toppling the sixth seed.
Keys then produced the kind of form that carried her to a maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne earlier this year as she won four games on the trot to take the second set and surge into a 2-0 lead in the third.
The 30-year-old was broken when she served for the match at 5-4, doubling over the net after she raced forward to hit the ball on break point down.
It proved to be Ruse's last hurrah though as Keys was screaming out a deafening 'Come on' just two games later after sealing victory. She will next face Serbia's Olga Danilovic.
(Reporting by Pritha Sarkar, editing by Ken Ferris)
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