Madison Keys gives her take on Ben Shelton and Emma Navarro fighting for Australian Open SF spots hours after her win

Madison Keys reached her career’s third Australian Open semifinals after beating Elina Svitolina in the women’s fourth round at the Rod Laver Arena. Keys, seeded 19, dropped the first set before making a surging comeback to close out on a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win against the 29th-seeded Svitolina.

Following her victory, Keys booked her place in the semifinals of the Australian Open after three years, having first reached the stage in 2015. Madison Keys is one of three Americans alongside Emma Navarro and Ben Shelton to feature in the quarterfinals of the year's first Grand Slam.

During her on-court interview shortly after her win against Svitolina, Keys gave a shoutout to her two fellow Americans who will be in action on Wednesday, January 22.

“I’m really excited to go and get to watch Emma and Ben later today. I think Emma and Iga is going to be a really competitive match. Emma's been playing just marathon matches that I've been living and dying over, and I'm kind of hoping for my own nerves that it's not a live or die marathon match again, and then excited to watch Ben play another match,” said the 29-year-old.

Navarro took on second seed Iga Swiatek in the women’s quarterfinal in hopes of setting an all-American semifinal clash against Keys. The 23-year-old, however, came up short, losing 6-1, 6-2 against the five-time Grand Slam champion.

Shelton, on the other hand, faces Italy’s Lorenzo Sonego for a spot in the men’s semifinal.

Keys added it's comforting to have fellow tennis players as friends while traveling the world on the Tour.

“It's really a great group of Americans, and I love being able to kind of travel around and it's always nice to have friends that are also travelling this crazy circus,” she added.

How Madison Keys beat Elina Svitolina to reach Australian Open semifinal

Madison Keys was the more in-form player going into the contest against Elina Svitolina, but the Ukrainian got the first opening in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. She wasted little time as she served an ace en route to winning the opening set 6-3.

Keys bounced back in the second set as a crucial forehand winner, on her second breakpoint, gave her the advantage at 4-2. The American, who won the Adelaide International before coming to the Australian Open, held her next two service games to win the set (6-4) and push the game to a deciding third set.

There was nothing to separate the two players in the initial games, but the turning point came in the fifth game when Keys got the all-important breakthrough to break serve and lead 3-2. Madison Keys had to ensure she held serve going forward, and she did just that to move one step closer to the Australian Open title.