Keys Upsets Swiatek, Faces Sabalenka In Australian Open Final

Madison Keys
Madison Keys (photo: Australian Open TV/YouTube)

MELBOURNE/WASHINGTON, January 23, 2025 (by Michael Dickens)

A new racquet, new strings, new coach, new attitude. It’s all come together at the right time for Madison Keys. She’s even a recent newlywed, too.

Thursday’s night with the roof closed on Rod Laver Arena, playing in her biggest match since losing the 2017 US Open final, the 29-year-old American handled all of the big and crucial moments – all of the ebbs and flows and momentum swings – just a little bit better than World No. 2 Iga Swiatek. Keys saved a match point and won a deciding 10-point match tie-break to defeat the former No. 1 and five-time Grand Slam champion, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8), in two hours and 35 minutes.

The 19th-seeded Keys will face two-time defending Australian Open champion and top seed Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday evening’s final.

While Keys has seen her more than her fair share of disappointment – big losses in big major moments of her career – this time she arguably played the match of her life, against Swiatek, who breezed through her first five wins by dropping only 14 total games. Sure, there was the frustration for Keys of not winning the first set after rallying to reach 5-6, on serve. After she was broken for the fourth time in the opening set, Keys netted a backhand – her 17th unforced error of the first set – and saw it slip away.

However, Key came out and played a truly sublime second set – filled with a plethora of nine winners – and broke Swiatek in three straight service games for a 5-0 lead. Then, with no breaks in the final set – six holds and break-point saves from both players – Swiatek broke to go ahead 6-5, but Polish star was unable to close it on match point, after missing a backhand into the net. Two points later, she double-faulted on a break point and it gave Keys the opportunity to pull out an improbable victory during a 10-point match tie-break as Thursday night morphed into early Friday morning.

Keys, showing nerves of steel and playing with a Yonex racquet after 17 years with Wilson, didn’t lead at all in the match tie-break until securing her own match point at 9-8. However, she won four of the last five points of the semifinal. Once Swiatek sailed a seventh-shot forehand past the baseline, Keys let out a joyful scream of approval and beamed her 1,000-watt smile toward her coach and husband, Bjorn Fratangelo, and the rest of her team. Then, after shaking Swiatek’s hand at the net, she walked to her chair, covered her face in a white towel and let the emotions of the satisfying moment sink in. No doubt, Keys shed many tears – and the TV cameras caught the joyous moment unfiltered.

“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening. Yeah, I’m in the finals. Woohoo!” an exuberant albeit exhausted Keys said during her on-court interview with Casey Dellacqua. “It was such a high level and she played so well. I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. … The third was just a battle. To be able to be standing here and be in the final is absolutely amazing. I’m excited I get to be here on Saturday.”

After dropping serve only once – back in the first round – Swiatek’s serve was broken eight times by Keys. The big-hitting American finished with 36 winners to 41 unforced errors, compared to 22 winners and 40 unforced errors by Swiatek. She won six break points. Keys outpointed Swiatek 111-100.

“At the end, I feel like we were both kind of battling some nerves. … It just became who can get that final point and who can be a little bit better than the other one,” Keys said. “And I’m happy it was me.”

Later, during her post-match news conference, Keys spoke about her emotions, especially during the match tie-break: “I think I’m still trying to come down and figure out where I am. I’m really proud of myself for being able to stay in it. Obviously, being up in the third and being so close to the finish line, losing my serve, then being able to stay as close as I could in the tiebreaker until the end, I’m just really proud of myself.”

With her victory over Swiatek, Keys (13-1) advanced to her second career major final – and first since the 2017 US Open – and it was a long time coming. Keys, who began the season by winning her ninth career title at Adelaide earlier this month, now has won 11 straight matches.

Sabalenka keeps hopes of three-peat alive

Earlier, two-time defending champion and top seed Aryna Sabalenka secured her berth in Saturday’s women’s singles final – and kept alive her chances of a three-peat – with her 6-4, 6-2 victory over best friend and 11th-seeded Paula Badosa in an hour and 26 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Now, Sabalenka is through to her fifth straight hard-court major final after slamming 32 winners to 21 unforced errors.

The World No. 1 from Belarus won her 20th straight match in Melbourne, a streak which began at the start of her 2023 title run, and extended her winning streak to begin the 2025 season to 11 straight. She won her first major trophy in Melbourne and since has added two more (Australian Open 2024, US Open 2024). She will go into Saturday’s final against Madison Keys with a 4-1 head-to-head advantage.

After Sabalenka secured match point on her first try against Badosa, winning with an impressive third-shot forehand winner, the two competitors – best of friends – shared a warm hug at the net.

The 26-year-old Sabalenka became the first woman to reach three consecutive AO title matches since Serena Williams (2015-17) and the youngest since Martina Hingis (1997-99).

“I played an incredible match, I think,” said Sabalenka, who is assured of retaining her No. 1 ranking with World No. 2 Iga Swiatek‘s semifinal loss to Keys.

“We both wanted it badly. It’s our dream. Here, we’re just opponents. No matter what happens on the court, we’re going to be friends after our matches. It’s tough to do but we agreed on that,” Sabalenka told Jelena Dokic in her on-court interview.

“I hope she’s still my friend. I’m sure she hates me for the next – I don’t know – hour, day or two.

“I promise Paula we go shopping and pay for whatever she wants.”

Sabalenka improved her career head-to-head against the Badosa to 6-2. The 12th-ranked Spaniard, who advanced to the semifinals after achieving her first Top-10 win at a major with her victory over World No. 3 Coco Gauff, will return to the Top 10 of the PIF WTA Rankings next week.

“The first set was really tight, a good level,” Badosa said during her post-match news conference. “Then in the second set she started to be very, very aggressive. Everything was working. Everything she was doing today, touching today, could become gold. She played the best match not even of the week. From the last months, for sure.

“If she plays like this, I mean, we can already give her the trophy.”

Around the Australian Open

Friday afternoon on Rod Laver Arena, the Australian Open will feature an all-Aussie mixed doubles final for the first time in the Open Era,when Olivia Gadecki and John Peers face their good friends Kimberly Birrell and John-Patrick Smith.

The last time four Aussies played against one another in the mixed doubles title match was in 1967 when Owen Davidson and Lesley Turner defeated Tony Roche and Judy Tegart.

Thursday’s Australian Open results

Friday’s Australian Open order of play

By the numbers

• If Novak Djokovic should defeat Alexander Zverev in their AO men’s semifinal on Friday, he would become just the second player to record 100 singles wins in Melbourne, after Roger Federer – and it would also take him through to a record-extending 11th Australian Open final.

• Madison Keys is the first woman to come from a set down to win an Australian Open women’s semifinal since Venus Williams in 2017.

“Quotable …”

“I’m going to prepare myself for a tough battle. “I’m going to prepare myself for a very intense and high-level match. I know I have the level. I’ve beaten [him] before. Hopefully I can do that again.”

– World No. 2 and second seed Alexander Zverev of Germany, following his quarterfinal win Tuesday. Zverev will take a 4-8 career head-to-head into Friday’s semifinal against No. 7 seed Novak Djokovic of Serbia, who is chasing after his 11th Australian Open title and 25th Grand Slam crown.

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