Madison Keys opened fast against Alina Korneeva and moved out to a 3-0 lead in their Arthur Ashe match at the US Open, but the set quickly stopped looking routine. Korneeva, making her US Open main draw debut, broke back and turned the opening frame into a chase instead of a procession.
That is why the match drew attention on day three: Keys, 31, arrived as the 2025 Australian Open champion and a former US Open runner-up from 2017, while Korneeva was playing in the main draw here for the first time at 19. The early gap suggested a straightforward start for the American, but the teenager’s response made the match feel alive almost immediately.
Keys later served at 5-3 in the first set and then fell to 0-40, putting the pressure back on her serve in a single stretch. Korneeva took the second break point to pull it back to 4-5, a sharp reversal that underlined how quickly the momentum had shifted in a set that began with Keys in full control.
The live action around them was moving too. Rain delayed play on the non-covered courts for at least another 30 minutes, leaving other matches in limbo while this one kept its edge under the roof. Thanasi Kokkinakis withdrew before his singles match against Rafael Jodar, Bu Yunchaokete replaced him in the draw, and several other storylines were building around the tournament, including Carlos Alcaraz's return from injury, Stan Wawrinka's final grand slam match and Aryna Sabalenka starting her title defence with a comfortable win.
For Korneeva, the value of the opening set is already clear: she is not just in the draw, she has made Keys work for every point. If she can keep the first serve pressure going and keep turning those brief openings into breaks, the American’s early lead may end up looking like the moment the match changed rather than the moment it was won.
