section_path: Career/2016: No. 7, WTA Finals berth
section_name: 2016: No. 7, WTA Finals berth
paragraph_text: 2016: No. 7, WTA Finals berth
  
  Keys began the year ranked No. 18 in the world. She reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, where she lost to qualifier Zhang Shuai in a match where she was ahead up until she started to experience pain in her leg in the second set. She did not play again until the Indian Wells Open. At the Miami Open, Keys produced another good result with her first quarterfinal at a Premier Mandatory event.
  
  During the clay-court season, Keys hired Thomas Högstedt to be her coach. She would drop Jesse Levine, who had been coaching her since the start of the year, from her team within the next few weeks. Her new partnership quickly proved to be successful with Keys reaching the final at the Italian Open leading up to the French Open, her first final at a Premier 5 event and the biggest of her career. During the event, she defeated two top-ten players in No. 9 Petra Kvitová and No. 4 Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the final to compatriot and world No. 1, Serena Williams, in straight sets. At the French Open, Keys won her first three matches in straight sets before unexpectedly falling to unseeded Kiki Bertens in the fourth round.
  
  Nonetheless, Keys followed up a strong clay-court season with an excellent grass-court season, highlighted by her second career title at the Birmingham Classic. With this victory at a Premier-level event, she moved into the top ten for the first time in her career at the age of 21, becoming the first American woman to do so since Serena Williams in 1999. Compatriots CoCo Vandeweghe and Sloane Stephens followed suit with their own top ten debuts in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Seeded No. 9 at Wimbledon, Keys advanced to the fourth round, where she was defeated by No. 5 Simona Halep despite winning the first set. Later that month, Keys reached her second consecutive Premier 5 final at the Canadian Open in Montreal, where she again lost to Halep. Her next tournament was the Olympic singles event in Rio de Janeiro. As the No. 7 seed, Keys reached the semifinals, where she was eliminated by Kerber. She then lost the bronze medal match to Kvitová in three sets, narrowly missing out on a medal.
  
  At the US Open as the eighth seed, Keys was able to reach the fourth round after a miraculous comeback against teenager Naomi Osaka in her third round match, where she overcame a 5–1 deficit in the third set. She then lost to Caroline Wozniacki, thereby exiting all four major tournaments that year in the fourth round. Nonetheless, Keys was still in contention for a spot in the WTA Finals in Singapore, being ranked No. 9 at the time with the top eight in the WTA rankings getting invited to the event. She stayed in the race by making the quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open. She then reached the semifinals in back-to-back weeks at the China Open in Beijing and the Linz Open in Austria. As a result, she was able to qualify for Singapore a week before the tournament. Making her debut at the event, Keys defeated Dominika Cibulková but lost her other two matches. She did not advance out of the round-robin stage, with Cibulková instead making it to the final rounds through the tiebreak criteria and ultimately winning the event. Keys finished the year ranked No. 8 in the world, becoming the first American other than the Williams sisters to finish a year with a top-10 ranking since Lindsay Davenport in 2005. Despite her successful year, Keys ended her partnership with coach Högstedt in November.
  
  Keys began the year ranked No. 18 in the world. She reached the fourth round at the Australian Open, where she lost to qualifier Zhang Shuai in a match where she was ahead up until she started to experience pain in her leg in the second set. She did not play again until the Indian Wells Open. At the Miami Open, Keys produced another good result with her first quarterfinal at a Premier Mandatory event.
  
  During the clay-court season, Keys hired Thomas Högstedt to be her coach. She would drop Jesse Levine, who had been coaching her since the start of the year, from her team within the next few weeks. Her new partnership quickly proved to be successful with Keys reaching the final at the Italian Open leading up to the French Open, her first final at a Premier 5 event and the biggest of her career. During the event, she defeated two top-ten players in No. 9 Petra Kvitová and No. 4 Garbiñe Muguruza. She lost in the final to compatriot and world No. 1, Serena Williams, in straight sets. At the French Open, Keys won her first three matches in straight sets before unexpectedly falling to unseeded Kiki Bertens in the fourth round.
  
  Nonetheless, Keys followed up a strong clay-court season with an excellent grass-court season, highlighted by her second career title at the Birmingham Classic. With this victory at a Premier-level event, she moved into the top ten for the first time in her career at the age of 21, becoming the first American woman to do so since Serena Williams in 1999. Compatriots CoCo Vandeweghe and Sloane Stephens followed suit with their own top ten debuts in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Seeded No. 9 at Wimbledon, Keys advanced to the fourth round, where she was defeated by No. 5 Simona Halep despite winning the first set. Later that month, Keys reached her second consecutive Premier 5 final at the Canadian Open in Montreal, where she again lost to Halep. Her next tournament was the Olympic singles event in Rio de Janeiro. As the No. 7 seed, Keys reached the semifinals, where she was eliminated by Kerber. She then lost the bronze medal match to Kvitová in three sets, narrowly missing out on a medal.
  
  At the US Open as the eighth seed, Keys was able to reach the fourth round after a miraculous comeback against teenager Naomi Osaka in her third round match, where she overcame a 5–1 deficit in the third set. She then lost to Caroline Wozniacki, thereby exiting all four major tournaments that year in the fourth round. Nonetheless, Keys was still in contention for a spot in the WTA Finals in Singapore, being ranked No. 9 at the time with the top eight in the WTA rankings getting invited to the event. She stayed in the race by making the quarterfinals at the Wuhan Open. She then reached the semifinals in back-to-back weeks at the China Open in Beijing and the Linz Open in Austria. As a result, she was able to qualify for Singapore a week before the tournament. Making her debut at the event, Keys defeated Dominika Cibulková but lost her other two matches. She did not advance out of the round-robin stage, with Cibulková instead making it to the final rounds through the tiebreak criteria and ultimately winning the event. Keys finished the year ranked No. 8 in the world, becoming the first American other than the Williams sisters to finish a year with a top-10 ranking since Lindsay Davenport in 2005. Despite her successful year, Keys ended her partnership with coach Högstedt in November.