Madison Keys reaches U.S. Open final

Madison Keys is in the U.S. Open final.

No. 15 seed Keys defeated No. 20 CoCo Vandeweghe at the U.S. Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing, New York on Thursday in what turned out to be a thoroughly one-sided semifinal that lasted 66 minutes.

Keys, who won 6-1, 6-2, will be playing in her first major final.

“It still doesn’t feel real,” the 22-year-old from Rock Island said. “I’m still shaking.”

This year marked the first time four American women reached the semifinals at the US Open since 1981, when Tracy Austin, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Barbara Potter did it. The last time it happened in a major was at Wimbledon in 1985 (Evert, Zina Garrison, Navratilova and Kathy Rinaldi).

It’s the first all-American US Open final since 2002, when Serena Williams defeated Venus Williams. Sloane Stephens and Keys have played each other just once, with Stephens winning that match.

Stephens, who has jumped more than 900 positions in the world rankings in a month, on Thursday reached her first major final, defeating No. 9 Venus Williams 6-1, 0-6, 7-5.

“I have no words to describe what I’m feeling, what it took to get here, just the journey I’ve been on,” Stephens said on court after the win. “I have no words.”

For Keys, this year’s U.S. Open was just her 10th tournament of 2017. During the off-season, Keys underwent surgery on her left wrist and missed the first two months of the year. She also, according to the WTA’s website, had a second surgery on the wrist ahead of Wimbledon.

Keys improves to 3-0 against the 25-year-old Vandeweghe, all of which happened this summer. Those first two wins — at Cincinnati and in Stanford, California — were close matches. This one was far from that, as Keys had 25 winners to Vandeweghe’s 22 unforced errors.

“I knew I had to rise to the occasion, and I’m just happy to be in the final,” said Keys, whose previous best major result was reaching the semifinal at the 2015 Australian Open.

While Keys dominated on Thursday, there could be a question about her health. At 4-1 in the second set, she took a medical timeout and left the court. She emerged with heavy wrapping on her right thigh.

Keys said she wanted treatment because she had “started to feel it” and “was afraid something more serious would happen” if she didn’t. However, when she was asked how sound she was heading into Saturday’s final, she answered with a huge smile.

“I feel great right now,” she replied. “I don’t think I could feel better than I do right now.”