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Madison Keys recently reacted to Sloane Stephens saying she liked the 'amazing energy' in Melbourne after reaching the third round at the 2024 Australian Open.
After defeating Australian wild card Olivia Gadecki 6-3, 6-1 in the first round, Stephens continued her winning streak by defeating Daria Kasatkina 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to secure her place in the third round.
Stephens' win over No. 14 seed Kasatkina is the first time she has reached the third round at the Grand Slam since her defeat to Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round of the 2019 Australian Open.
Basking in the incredible energy of advancing to the third round in Melbourne, Sloane Stephens took to social media (Instagram) shared a series of pictures from her match and wrote:
"The energy is amazing ⚡️ ⚡️ ⚡️ @australianopen."
Impressed by Stephens' performance, Madison Keys, the former World No. 3's close friend and compatriot, expressed her delight and commented:
"LFG. We love to see it."
Sloane Stephens: "Happy to be competing and playing the tennis that feels good to me"
Following her win over Daria Kasatkina, Sloane Stephens stated during her post-match press conference that she was satisfied after defeating the Russian, who has been playing well and has been consistent on the tour.
Stephens admitted that it was going to be a challenging match, but was "pleased" when her persistence paid off.
"It was good. Obviously it was a hard-fought match. Obviously playing a player [Kasatkina] who has been playing well. Obviously she made the finals in Adelaide last week. She's been super consistent on tour. So it was always going to be a tough battle, but really pleased to be through," Stephens said.
The World No. 44 expressed her delight in competing and playing the tennis that brings her joy, as it holds utmost importance to her.
"Just happy to be out here, happy to be playing, happy to be competing and playing the tennis that feels good to me. I think that is the most important, so I think there's a lot of emotion behind that. I think now it's just coming out a little bit more," she added. "Yeah, just happy to be out there fighting for every point. Whatever comes out, comes out."
Sloane Stephens will next face another Russian, Anna Kalinskaya, in the third round at the 2024 Australian Open.
