Madison Keys on Thursday returned to the scene of her WTA Tour triumph last year with a hard-fought win over Caroline Dolehide at the Credit One Bank Invitational in Charleston, South Carolina.
The 16-player team event, staged with strict social distancing measures as players prepare for the return of WTA action in August after the COVID-19 shutdown, is a far cry from the full-fledged WTA tournament on the green clay courts, but Keys, ranked 13th in the world, said that she was still nervous in her first match since a third-round exit at the Australian Open in January.
Those butterflies showed as she let a 3-0 second-set lead slip, before pulling off a 6-1, 6-7 (6/8), 10-4 victory over world No. 134 Dolehide.
Keys finally fired a forehand winner up the line on her fourth match point, scoring a point for Team Kindness against Team Peace captained by Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
“That was up and down,” Keys said after tapping rackets with Dolehide at the net.
“That was — I haven’t played a match in a really long time,” she said.
“I was definitely really nervous and that obviously showed, but I was really happy to get a win and a point for my team,” Keys said.
“All in all, things to work on, but not too bad for a first match,” she added.
Keys is one of three top-10 players taking part in the tournament, alongside Australian Open champion and world No. 4 Sofia Kenin, and world No. 19 Alison Riske.
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