section_path: Career/2020: Brisbane final
section_name: 2020: Brisbane final
paragraph_text: 2020: Brisbane final
  
  Keys started the season strongly by reaching the final at the Brisbane International, her first career final during the early hardcourt season. She defeated former major champions, Samantha Stosur and Petra Kvitová, en route, before falling to Karolína Plíšková in a tight three-set match. Seeded tenth at the Australian Open, Keys recorded straight set victories over Daria Kasatkina and Arantxa Rus in her first two matches but fell to 20th seed Maria Sakkari in the third round.
  
  Keys did not play the rest of the early hardcourt season and was next scheduled to play in Indian Wells, but play was suspended before the tournament began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the tour resumed in August, Keys made her return at the Cincinnati Open where she was the defending champion. However, she lost her opening match to Ons Jabeur in the second round after receiving a bye in the first. Due to several of the top 10 players withdrawing from the US Open citing safety concerns, Keys was seeded seventh and considered a serious contender for the title. She breezed through her first two matches, winning in straight sets over Tímea Babos and Aliona Bolsova. Unfortunately in the third round, after losing the first-set tiebreak and serving at 2–3 in the second set against Alizé Cornet, Keys was forced to retire from the match due to a neck injury, marking her earliest exit from the US Open since 2014, snapping a streak of five consecutive runs to the second week. She recovered in time to play at the French Open, where she was seeded twelfth. However she was upset in the first round by Zhang Shuai in straight sets, marking the first time Keys lost in the opening round at a major since the 2014 French Open. She ended the year ranked No. 16 in the world, her sixth consecutive year-end top 20 ranking.
  
  Keys started the season strongly by reaching the final at the Brisbane International, her first career final during the early hardcourt season. She defeated former major champions, Samantha Stosur and Petra Kvitová, en route, before falling to Karolína Plíšková in a tight three-set match. Seeded tenth at the Australian Open, Keys recorded straight set victories over Daria Kasatkina and Arantxa Rus in her first two matches but fell to 20th seed Maria Sakkari in the third round.
  
  Keys did not play the rest of the early hardcourt season and was next scheduled to play in Indian Wells, but play was suspended before the tournament began due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the tour resumed in August, Keys made her return at the Cincinnati Open where she was the defending champion. However, she lost her opening match to Ons Jabeur in the second round after receiving a bye in the first. Due to several of the top 10 players withdrawing from the US Open citing safety concerns, Keys was seeded seventh and considered a serious contender for the title. She breezed through her first two matches, winning in straight sets over Tímea Babos and Aliona Bolsova. Unfortunately in the third round, after losing the first-set tiebreak and serving at 2–3 in the second set against Alizé Cornet, Keys was forced to retire from the match due to a neck injury, marking her earliest exit from the US Open since 2014, snapping a streak of five consecutive runs to the second week. She recovered in time to play at the French Open, where she was seeded twelfth. However she was upset in the first round by Zhang Shuai in straight sets, marking the first time Keys lost in the opening round at a major since the 2014 French Open. She ended the year ranked No. 16 in the world, her sixth consecutive year-end top 20 ranking.