Madison Keys grabs first title of 2024 in Strasbourg

Madison Keys’ excellent 2024 run on the red clay of Europe hit new heights on Saturday, as she captured her first title of the year by cruising past her compatriot Danielle Collins 6-1, 6-2 at the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg.

In the all-American final, No.4 seed Keys powered her way to victory over No.3 seed Collins in just 72 minutes of play. It is Keys’ eighth career WTA singles title, and her first on red clay (she also won the Charleston title on green clay in 2019).

“I feel amazing,” Keys said afterwards. “I went into today knowing that I was going to have to play some really good tennis in order to beat Danielle. She’s been playing absolutely incredibly the last couple of months, and she’s always a really tough opponent.

“I went into today thinking, ‘OK, I’m just going to really go for everything that I can, and play some really good tennis,’ and things worked out.”

Keys has done something very few players have been able to do of late — defeat Collins. Coming into Saturday’s final, Collins had won 22 of her past 24 matches, with her only two losses in that stretch coming to World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka.

However, Keys was also in spectacular form entering the final, rebounding from a late start to the season. Keys missed the first two months of 2024 action while rehabbing her shoulder, making her season debut at Indian Wells in March.