Monday's match marked just the second time Keys and Zarazúa faced off. Keys won the first encounter, beating Zarazúa at the 2024 French Open. With her win Monday, Zarazúa evened the their head-to-head record.

Pretty much from the get-go at the U.S. Open on Monday, Madison Keys could tell she wasn’t hitting the ball well or feeling very much at all like the self-confident player who claimed her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.