Australian Open champion Madison
Keys loses in the US Open's first round to Renata Zarazua of Mexico
[August 26, 2025]
By HOWARD FENDRICH
NEW YORK (AP) — Pretty much from the get-go at the U.S. Open on
Monday, Madison Keys could tell she wasn't hitting the ball well or
feeling very much at all like the self-confident player who claimed
her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.
After 89 unforced errors, including 14 double-faults, the No.
6-seeded Keys was gone from Flushing Meadows in the first round with
a 6-7 (10), 7-6 (3), 7-5 loss to 82nd-ranked Renata Zarazua of
Mexico.
“For the first time in a while ... my nerves really got the better
of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” said Keys,
the runner-up in New York to good friend Sloane Stephens in 2017 and
a semifinalist in 2018 and 2023. “I felt like I was just slow. I
wasn’t seeing things the way that I wanted to, which I feel like
resulted in a lot of bad decisions and lazy footwork.”
Her first U.S. Open with the status of major champion — thanks to
defeating No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final at Melbourne Park — was
over just as it began.
“You always kind of feel first-round jitters and, as the day is
getting closer, feeling a little bit more and more nervous,” said
Keys, who played with her left thigh heavily taped. “But I feel
like, for whatever reason, today I just couldn’t separate myself
from ... feeling like winning matters just way too much."
She made so many mistakes off the spin-laden shots coming her way
that Zarazua needed to produce just eight winners to earn the
biggest victory of her career. Zarazua lost in the first or second
round of all eight of her previous Slam appearances.
Yet somehow, it was Zarazua who managed to deal with any nervousness
better, even though she was competing in cavernous Arthur Ashe
Stadium for the first time and had only had a chance to hit there
once a couple of days prior.
The 5-foot-3 Zarazua came into the day with a 0-6 record against
opponents ranked in the top 10.
“I’m a little bit small in height, so coming in here, it was like:
‘Oh, my God. This is huge,’” Zarazua said about the largest stadium
in tennis, which holds nearly 24,000 spectators.
When the match ended with Keys missing a forehand, Zarazua smiled as
wide as possible, held her racket atop her head, then placed a hand
over her face.
This one certainly was memorable, in part because it did not come
easily and lasted 3 hours, 10 minutes.
Zarazua trailed by a set — after frittering away five chances to
take the opener — and 3-0 in the second.
Quite a daunting deficit. But she never went away.
“Kudos to her for making me play a lot of balls today,” Keys said.
“I mean, she’s a tricky player.”
[to top of second column] |
Renata Zarazua, of Mexico, reacts after defeating Madison Keys, of
the United States, during the first round of the US Open tennis
championships, Monday, Aug. 25, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth
Wenig)
While Keys was one of 25 American players in the
women’s singles draw, the 27-year-old Zarazua is Mexico’s lone
entrant in the bracket. She moved to San Antonio as a teen, and is
now based in Florida.
“In Mexico, yeah, it’s probably not the most famous
sport,” Zarazua said about tennis, which she picked up after
starting out in gymnastics and diving.
“I got into tennis,” she explained, "just because my brother was
playing, and he was like, ‘I think this is a bit safer sport.’"
What else happened at the US Open on Monday?
Brazilian teenager João Fonseca, who turned 19 on Thursday, won his
U.S. Open debut, defeating Miomir Kecmanovic 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5), 6-3
in front of a raucous crowd of his countrymen. Another precocious
player, 18-year-old Canadian Vicky Mboko, who was seeded 22nd, was
eliminated by two-time major champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-2.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who is 35, played her
last match before retirement, losing to Diane Parry 6-1, 6-0, and
2022 U.S. Open semifinalist Caroline Garcia, 31, also exited the
final tournament of her career, eliminated 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 by Kamilla
Rakhimova. Frances Tiafoe, a two-time semifinalist in New York, beat
Yoshihito Nishioka in straight sets. At night, Venus Williams lost
her first Grand Slam match in two years, before Carlos Alcaraz
showed up with a new buzz cut and beat Reilly Opelka 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
Who is on Tuesday's schedule at the US Open?
A packed program for Day 3 of the first round includes Grand Slam
champions Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner. Gauff's
opponent is Ajla Tomljanovic, who beat Serena Williams at the U.S.
Open in the last match of 23-time major title winner's career. This
is Gauff's first match since she began working with biomechanics
coach Gavin MacMillan in a bid to improve her serve.
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