Got that dawg in her: Peyton Stearns stuns Madison Keys for superb Rome Open win

Peyton Stearns has been in some form as of late but has surged into the last sixteen after winning a match tiebreaker against Madison Keys 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) at the Rome Open.

Stearns who won Rabat on the clay last year so has shown some winning form on the surface ironically has received a sort of new manager bounce akin to football by hiring a new coach.

The American had to search for a new coach after Tom Hill went back to his old charge Maria Sakkari. Stearns hilariously asked for coaches to DM her on X before promptly closing them again.

But settling on her new team, it has paid dividends and after a good Madrid, she is into the Last 16 with a typical gutsy display which she has become known for.

Keys wasn’t doing enough with her serve after the first set and Stearns perhaps could’ve got it done simpler. She went 4-2 up in the decider but was broken straight back when serving for 5-2.

This saw it be made 4-3 and was holds until the tiebreak which Stearns took. After not taking that chance earlier on, she did second time around winning it 7-3.

Unforced errors were an issue for Keys who hit 33 in all compared to 21 from Stearns despite hitting more winners. The second serves were more on Stearns racquet as she hit 49% compared to 37% from Keys.

While she took the same amount of break chances but had less of an opportunity than Keys so took them when she needed to. Next could be a good tie for Stearns as she faces Bouzkova or Osaka.

Keys has to now go back to the drawing board after a fairly uninspiring return since the Australian Open. Not playing Strasbourg either means it’s straight into Roland Garros.