Keys crushes CoCo, through to US Open final

Madison Keys has produced a sublime performance to storm into her first Grand Slam final at the US Open.

In the second of two all-American semifinals, Keys dominated CoCo Vandeweghe, winning 6-1 6-2 in just 66 minutes.

The victory sets up a final between Keys and Sloane Stephens, who earlier on Thursday night stunned Venus Williams in a tense three-setter.

It is the first All-American US Open final since 2002 and first not featuring a Williams sister since 1984.

Major ???? : Flawless performance tonight by @Madison_Keys as she heads into her first Grand Slam Final. #USOpen @MBUSA pic.twitter.com/y3bOdsaL9V

— US Open Tennis (@usopen) September 8, 2017

“It still doesn’t feel real. I’m still shaking,” Keys giggled on court after the match.

“I think I played pretty well tonight. There’s a lot of things in my head right now, so I’m struggling to come up with words. But yeah, I think I played really well, and I knew I had to rise to the occasion.

“I’m just really happy to be in the final.”

RELATED: Stephens upstages Venus to reach US Open final

Entering the match, Keys and Vandeweghe had played twice in the US summer swing, with Keys triumphing in both the Stanford final and the first round in Cincinnati.

Here in New York, she continued her winning ways, racing to a 5-0 lead against a shell-shocked Vandeweghe, her free-swinging power game dialled in and devastating.

Vandeweghe managed to get on the board in the sixth game – saving a set point in the process – to avoid an ignominious bagel scoreline, but in the very next game Keys served it out after just 23 minutes, already a jaw-dropping 14-2 in winners to unforced errors.

Coco:"I wasn't overwhelmed by the occasion, but Madison played unbelievable" #usopen

— Ubitennis (@Ubitennis) September 8, 2017

The second set was more competitive, with Vandeweghe somewhat stretching out the rallies and games, but after a battle at deuce, she dropped serve in the third game, and again in the fifth after a scorching off-backhand winner from Keys, to fall behind 4-1.

Here, Keys departed the court for a medical timeout and returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium with her right thigh strapped. “I definitely started to feel it, and I was just afraid if I went too far into a corner then something more serious could happen, so I felt like I needed to get it worked on sooner rather than later,” she revealed.

But it did little to change the course of the match. A few games later, she sealed victory with an ace up the T.

Keys finished the match with a resounding 25 winners to just nine unforced errors; Vandeweghe’s inverted tally read 9-22.

“Sloane is a new person right now. I think she’s really loving being out on the court again. She’s just so excited to be out here and she’s obviously playing really well,” Keys said.

“I’m really excited that we get to play each other in the US Open final. It’s pretty cool to say.”