NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (Xinhua) -- American Madison Keys, the 2017 U.S. Open women's singles runner-up, stormed back from a set down here on Saturday, beating Aleksandra Krunic from Serbia, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the 2018 U.S. Open Round of 16.

It was their first encounter at the U.S. Open since 2014, when Krunic claimed a second-round win.

"I was definitely a little bit nervous," said Keys. "She came out playing really well and put a ton of pressure on me from the start. There were too many unforced errors in the first set, but I got through."

Key got off to a slow start, dumping a backhand into the net to surrender an early break. But the 23-year-old American turned things around in the second, storming through the set with breaks.

Both players struggled to find rhythm from the service stripe in the third set, which opened with no fewer than five straight breaks. The first hold of the set didn't come until the sixth game, when Keys, usually one of the WTA Tour's most consistent and most powerful servers, finally gained some traction.

Krunic, the lone Serbian in the 2018 women's singles main draw, never held serve in the deciding set. Enditem