Pera pushes Keys to limit

The make up of the semi finals of the Volvo Car Open in Charleston has been determined, with straight sets wins in three of the four quarter finals.

The one match which took three sets and over two hours to complete was an all American battle - seventh seed Madison Keys against Bernarda Pera, ranked 101.

Keys opened proceedings as one would expect, serving well and returning the Pera delivery with powerful effect, especially the second serve, where 8 of 10 points were captured by the favourite.

The set was wrapped up 6-2.

Set two was a real contest, and no breaks of serve occurred.  Keys did have two match points when Pera served at 5-6, but those evaporated and the tie break was taken by Pera seven points to five, and the match was levelled.

It was perhaps the first serve percentage (45%) that let Pera down in the deciding set, because she matched Keys in just about all departments, even leading 4-2 with a break.

There were five breaks of serve in the twelve games contested, and Keys managed three of those, winning five of the last six games, enough to scrape through to the final four - 6-2 6-7(5) 7-5.

Thirty winners was impressive for Madison, in a high quality clash which forced the best out of both players.  Pera has a bright future and now moves into the top 100.

Other quarter finals:

Kiki Bertens (12) defeated Alize Cornet (14) 6-2 7-5

She will play Madison Keys in the semis 

Julia Goerges (5) defeated Daria Kasatkina (3) 6-4 6-3

She will play Anastasija Sevastova in the semis 

Anastasija Sevastova (8) defeated Kristyna Pliskova 6-4 6-0

Monterrey quarter finals:

Ana Bogdan (6) defeated Danielle Collins 6-2 6-4

She will play Garbine Muguruza in the semis 

Garbine Muguruza (1) defeated Ajla Tomljanovic (8) 6-3 6-0

Timea Babos (4) defeated Monica Puig (5) 6-4 6-2

She will play Sachia Vickery in the semis 

Sachia Vickery defeated Magdalena Rybarikova (2) 6-0 6-3