New champion Madison Keys cruises in 1st match at Indian Wells

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. — Newly minted Australian Open champion Madison Keys crushed Anastasia Potapova 6-3, 6-0 at Indian Wells on Saturday in her first match as a Grand Slam champion.

Keys broke Russian Potapova’s serve for a third time to clinch the first set and rolled through the one-sided second set under sunny skies in the California desert to extend her winning streak to 13 matches.

“I’m so happy to be here,” Keys said in an interview on center court after the match.

“Australia was obviously an amazing moment so it’s really nice to be playing at home for my first tournament back at a place I’ve played at so many times in front of some amazing people.”

Next up for world No. 5 Keys is a third-round meeting with either 28th seed Elise Mertens or Kimberly Birrell of Australia, who play later on Saturday.

Reuters contributed to this story.

Source: espn.com