Day two of the U.S. Open delivered the match’s first massive stunner.
Renata Zarazúa of Mexico defeated No. 6 seed Madison Keys 6-7(10), 7-6(3), 7-5 in a significant first-round upset at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday afternoon.
Keys, who holds the third-highest rating amongst American girls, dedicated 89 unforced errors and totaled 14 double faults.
“For the first time in a while, [I felt] my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralyzing,” Keys stated. “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.”
Keys outlasted Zarazúa in a marathon first set, then jumped out to a 3-0 lead within the second.
However Keys misplaced the subsequent 5 video games, and after rebounding to return up 6-5 in that second set, she dropped the ultimate two video games to even the match.
Madison Keys competes within the 1st spherical of the 2025 U.S. Open tennis championships on the USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart in Flushing New York on August 25, 2025. (Andrew Schwartz/New York Every day Information)
“She reset the point a lot,” Key stated of Zarazúa. “I mean, kudos to her for making me play a lot of balls today. She’s a tricky player. I felt like she was kind of resetting the point over and over and over again and just kind of stayed tough in really important points.”
Keys gained the Australian Open in January for her first-ever Grand Slam title. She was the U.S. Open runner-up in 2017, when she misplaced to a different American, Sloane Stephens, within the closing.
However Monday marked Keys’ third first-round exit at Flushing Meadows and her first since 2021.
“I’ve had a lot of success, have probably won the most matches I’ve ever won in a year, but then losing today — and I think it’s more so, like, the way that I played today — it kind of sucks. But I think big picture, if you told me at the beginning of the year what I was signing up for, I would obviously say yes.”
Madison Keys competes within the 1st spherical of the 2025 U.S. Open tennis championships on the USTA Billie Jean King Nationwide Tennis Heart in Flushing New York on August 25, 2025. (Andrew Schwartz/New York Every day Information)
The win made Zarazúa, who’s ranked No. 82 on this planet, the primary Mexican girl to defeat a top-10 opponent on the Open.
“I looked up to many players, like Serena, Venus [Williams], a lot of the players that I watched growing up. But also, in Mexico, it’s probably not the most famous sport. … I got into tennis just because my brother was playing.”
Zarazúa added with a smile, “I started loving it. Yeah, I was just really happy that I chose to play that sport.”
Initially Revealed: August 25, 2025 at 4:37 PM EDT
