WHAT HAPPENED: When Madison Keys is on a roll, look out.
The American won her opening-round match in 55 minutes. She was even more efficient on Thursday, blistering her way to a 53-minute win over the 103rd-ranked Spaniard Aliona Bolsova, 6-2, 6-1.
The 25-year-old American exhibited her superior firepower, taking aim at forehands and first serves to blow her opponent off the court.
From the start it looked like target practice for Keys, the 2017 finalist in Flushing. When the 7th seed is connecting, she poses an intimidating figure across the net. Her Achilles heel, however, is that she can get impatient and misfire.
Keys sprayed a few forehands on Thursday, but she maintained her focus and repeatedly nailed her targets. She raced through the opening games in dominant fashion, cracking 13 winners and capturing the first set in 32 minutes. About the most that Bolsova could do was save a handful of break points on serve.
The second set was even more dominant.
WHAT IT MEANS: The keys to the American’s game are her first serve and windup forehand; she cooks both with pace unrivaled in the women’s game. Madison connected on 80 percent of first serves and she struck 23 winners. Important, since she can be error-prone, was her unforced error total: just 14.
Bolsova, who was born in Moldova but moved to Spain and became a Spanish citizen in 2013, played college ball at Oklahoma State and Florida Atlantic University. The unseeded Spaniard was playing her first match against a Top 20 player.
MATCH POINT: Keys is now 23-8 at her home Slam, the US Open. The American is still looking for her first major championship. She buckled under the pressure against compatriot Sloane Stephens three years ago in the final; might this be the year, with a wide-open field and fewer expectations, that delivers her breakthrough?
