Stearns stuns Keys in Rome as Iga bow out in shock defeat

Peyton Stearns delivered the biggest upset so far at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, triumphing in an all-American third round to upset No. 5 seed Madison Keys 2-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) and advance to her second consecutive WTA 1000 fourth round.

Stearns had also come through her only previous meeting with Keys, in the second round of Toronto last year — albeit via retirement, after a leg injury forced Keys to pull out while trailing 3-0 in the third set.

In the rematch, the 23-year-old finished the job to notch her second career Top 10 win following her defeat of Zheng Qinwen in Dubai three months ago.

Stearns twice led by a break in the third set, only for Keys to peg her back both times and force a tiebreak but Stearns came up with a terrific drop shot-pass combination to gain a decisive 5-3 lead.

Currently at a career high of No. 42 in the PIF WTA Rankings, Stearns has historically thrived on red clay. Both of her Hologic WTA Tour finals have come on clay a runner-up finish at Bogota 2023 and a maiden title in Rabat last year and she is coming off a run to the Madrid fourth round, including an upset of Amanda Anisimova.

She will face either Naomi Osaka or Marie Bouzkova

Elsewhere, Iga Swiatek lost her first main-draw match in Rome five years ago to Arantxa Rus. She was 18 years old. After that, she became virtually unbeatable, winning the title three of the past four years.

Heading into Saturday’s third-round match against No. 29-seeded Danielle Collins, Swiatek had won an astounding 21 of her past 22 matches at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia that’s a winning percentage of 91.3 second only to Chris Evert’s 92.3.

That was before Collins dug in and produced a stunning 6-1, 7-5 upset. The 31-year-old American had lost seven of eight previous matches against the five-time Grand Slam singles champion. From beginning to end, there was an unnerving clarity to Collins’ game.

“Obviously, I played against Iga so many times,” Collins said in her on-court interview. “When you play that many close matches and also play your best tennis and lose — you learn a lot.”

Collins finished with 32 winners, against only 15 unforced errors. Swiatek’s numbers were 15 and 22. Collins converted six of eight break point opportunities, while Swiatek was only 2-for-10.