Key events
Keys 6-6 Gauff (7-6) Gauff doesn’t let her or us find out, a gorgeous drop restoring parity … but after a fault, no one can be surprised when the second serve goes into the net. That’s a third double of the breaker, and you could see her collapse under the toss, sending the ball low into the net.
Keys 6-6 Gauff (6-5) Keys’ forehand is losing her as many points as it’s winning; when she’s nervous she tends to go bigger and Gauff is constantly asking the question. And goodness me, how many she’s forced to play to make 5-5! But she gets there in the end, then dominates the next rally for 6-5, and will now receive set-point to the good. Has she rediscovered her range just in time?
Keys 6-6 Gauff (4-4) Gauff again keeps the ball in play long enough to elicit the error and this time it means she takes the mini-break; the longer the rally, the more likely she is to win it. But at 4-3, her second double of the breaker takes us back level, neither player able to hit well enough for long enough to take control.
Keys 6-6 Gauff (2-3) Immediate mini-break to Keys via colossal double, but Gauff defends really well in the next point, hanging in it long enough to see an attempted winner hit the net. A poor drop then invites Gauff to the net, but Keys threads a devastating forehand through a tiny hole between player and sideline and we’re at 2-1; two holds and the world no 2 leads, on serve.
*Keys 6-6 Gauff Keys is finding first serves when she needs them most, making 15-0 only to thwack a forehand cross just wide. And when she then nets a backhand, Gauff is two points away from the set … but a forehand down and on to the line makes 30-all. These are high tariff, low percentage shots from Keys, who reaches game point then switches the momentum of the next rally with a forehand so good it elicits an involuntary gasp from Naomi Cavaday. To the breaker we go!
Keys 5-6 Gauff* A love hold! I think that’s the first of the set, and Keys will now serve to stay in it. I’ve not a clue what’s going to happen next, but my sense is both players will try and let go of their biggest shots. Gauff might try to hang in pints waiting for errors, but so far she’s looked most convincing when playing positively.
*Keys 5-5 Gauff It’d be wrong to say Gauff’s improvement has precipitated Keys’ deterioration – if anything, it’s the other way around. In comms, Chrissy – the player least pervious to nerves in the game’s history – blames them, and she should know. But I also wonder if a little bit of complacency is to blame: at 4-1 40-15, perhaps she felt the set was hers. Either way, we wind up at deuce, Gauff sends a forehand down the line, and Keys nets on the backhand to cede set point; she badly needs a first serve, finds a high-kicker to the backhand, then opens her body to rude a big bounce and punish an inside-out forehand winner, cross-court. Another first serve then helps make advantage, and from there, another fine point secures the hold; what a funny set this is, Keys rediscovering herself when under the most pressure
Keys 4-5 Gauff* Up 30-0, Gauff sends down a double to keep things close. But Keys, having hit a terrific approach on to the baseline, then nets her clean-up, and a succession of forehands secure the hold. Gauff is far more confident now, playing her natural game rather than one tailored to her opponent’s strengths and weaknesses; she secures her hold and Keys will shortly serve to stay in a set she ought already to have won. The way she’s playing, you fear for her.
*Keys 4-4 Gauff And Keys is feeling it, opening the game with a tame double, then losing a forehand to forehand rally – Gauff has found her range, taking the ball earlier and hitting a fuller length. Ahahaha, but of course as I type, Keys nails an inside-out winner – “Call that a forehand, this is a forehand” – only to go long with it in the next rally, presenting two break-back points. Gosh, a second double means only one is required, and this is old Maddy back again, turning 4-1 40-15 into 4-4. A killer like Gauff is’t likely to let her away with it.
Keys 4-3 Gauff* Gauff is struggling to keep Keys’ forehand out of things – points are being decided according to whether it hits or misses. And at 30-all, she finds a good return … but Gauff wears it well, taking control of the point and winning it in short order, then a netted forehand secures an important hold. The world no 2 is playing more positively now, looking to be proactive rather than reactive, and there’s pressure on Keys as she prepares to defend her remaining break.
*Keys 4-2 Gauff Gauff’s forehand will always be a weakness but it’s giving her almost nothing today; another error means 15-0, and she’s hitting so many more unforceds than winners that it’s almost impossible for her to win games. Keys, on the other hand, has settled. She believes in her game now, so isn’t discouraged by adversity – though, as I type, a second serve sits up and begs to be punished; Gauff doesn’t miss out, making 40-30, and we’re soon at deuce. If she can prolong the rallies, testing Keys’ patience, she’s got a good chance, and when she makes advantage, she’s offered a second serve to attack. And, though, she can’t unleash a definitive return, Gauff plays a fine point, her forehand finally giving her something, she finishes the game with an overhead, and might Keys regret the three consecutive errors 40-15 into a first break back? We shall see, but even if it’s too late for this set, we can hope that both players are now relaxing into things.
Keys 4-1 Gauff* Keys is warming up here, moving Gauff laterally to open up space for the winner; 0-15. And when a double follows, then a netted forehand, you fear for the world no 2, who just hasn’t got going yet; shonuff a second double of the game means Keys has the double break and the first set is almost hers.
*Keys 3-1 Gauff Gauff again strides to the net and this time despatches a forehand winner for 0-15; we wind up at 30-all before a miserable forehand into the net hands Keys a point for a consolidation. Naturally, she serves to the forehand, Gauff’s weaker wing, the return is netted and control of the set duly ceded.
Keys 2-1 Gauff* A double gives Keys 0-15, but another forehand error, this time into the net, restores parity. And though she makes 15-30, two more forehands fall long – in comms, Chrissy reckons she’s not putting enough top-spin on the ball – giving Gauff game-point. Oh, but have a look! Two forehand winners and Keys has advantage, Gauff marches in to slap a backhand into the net, and that’s a third break in three games. The tension is palpable.
Keys 1-0 Gauff* Gauff makes 15-30 then sticks in the next point until the error arrives – that’s what we said at the start about making Keys hit a lot of balls. And looking to force the issue next rally, Keys goes for too much, overhitting an attempted forehand winner to return the break immediately. Neither player has settled yet.
Keys 1-0 Gauff* (*denotes server) It’s a shame and maybe even a scandal that Chatrier is so sparsely populated for so big a match. And its first point tells us plenty about how it might go, a long rally ending when Keys – my pick, if you’re pushing me – hits a forehand into the top of the net. But a forehand winner soon gives her 15-3o, Gauff then goes long to hand over break point, and a further error, a netted forehand, gives Keys an early advantage.
Righto, we’re good to go; Gauff to serve.
We’ve been talking about psychological axioms but allow me ignore the one that says we should live in the moment: imagine the atmosphere on Chatrier a couple of hours for now, when Boisson and Andreeva come out Oooh yeah!
The roof is closed. That will, I think, help Keys, whose big shots benefit from the certainty of stillness – she can whack it without worrying about wind and so on. Gauff, though, has plenty of her own power, and if she can hide her forehand is favourite.
Preamble
Salut à tout le monde et bienvenue à Roland-Garros 2025 – 11ème jour!
And what a start awaits us. Madison Keys is the Australian Open champion – gratuitous, but I’ll never tire of typing that – finally realising the talent it was impossible to deny. Technically speaking, little has changed, but mentally she’s a different person, making peace with the career she’s had in order to grow into the player she now is. Or, put another way, she’s a lesson in the value of psychological axioms: self-worth comes from within, not without; we are defined by what is in our head and our hearts, not according to our professional accomplishments.
But this morning, she faces an opponent able to examine both her game and her equilibrium. Coco Gauff is a grand slam champion in her own right, a phenomenal athlete who’ll ask her to hit a lot of balls – a test as mental as it is technical and facilitated by a damp, cold day. Though it’s easy to plot a path to victory for both players, it’s far harder to decide which of them will be celebrating at the end.
Following them on to court, we’ve Mirra Andreeva, a talent so natural she might’ve been playing in the womb. But Lois Boisson is in ridiculous form, in the process of announcing herself to the tennis world; she absolutely believes and, as Maddy could tell you, that’s a large chunk of the battle.
And finally for the day session, we’ve Jannik Sinner, the best player in the world, against Sascha Bublik, a mercurial maverick who might finally have reconciled his power and hands with what it takes to succeed as a professional. We think we know who’ll win, but then we thought the same when he was two sets down to Alex de Minaur, just as we did before he met Jack Draper in the last round. If he’s got another performance left in him, we’re in for a treat.
On y va!
Play: 11asm local, 10am BST
