Madison Keys stuns Iga Swiatek, to face Aryna Sabalenka in Australian Open final
The victory over five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, who'd been on the most dominant run at Melbourne Park in a dozen years
Melbourne: When Madison Keys finally finished off her 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek in a high-intensity, high-quality Australian Open semifinal on Thursday, saving a match point along the way, the 29-year-old American crouched on the court and placed a hand on her white hat.
She had a hard time believing it all. The comeback. What Keys called an “extra dramatic finish.” The victory over five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek, who’d been on the most dominant run at Melbourne Park in a dozen years. And now the chance to play in a Grand Slam final for a second time, eight years after being the US Open runner-up.
“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening,” said the 19th-seeded Keys, who will face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday for the trophy. “I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. … It was so up and down and so many big points.” Just to be sure, Keys asked whether Swiatek was, indeed, one point from victory (yes, Madison, she was, serving at 6-5, 40-30, but missed a backhand into the net, then eventually got broken by double-faulting), sending the contest to a first-to-10, win-by-two tiebreaker.
“I felt like I blacked out there at some point,” Keys said, “and was out there running around.” Whatever she was doing, it sure worked in the end. Keys claimed more games in the semifinal than the 14 total that Swiatek dropped in her five previous matches over the past two weeks.
Sabalenka beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 earlier Thursday. Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus, won the Australian Open the past two years and can become the first woman since 1999 to complete a three-peat.
“If she plays like this,” the 11th-seeded Badosa said about Sabalenka, “I mean, we can already give her the trophy.” The key statistic: Sabalenka finished with a 32-11 advantage in winners.
That’s the sort of excellence that helped Sabalenka win her first major trophy at Melbourne Park in 2023, and she since has added two more — in Australia a year ago and at the U.S. Open last September.
The last woman to reach three finals in a row at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015-17. Martina Hingis was the most recent woman with a threepeat, doing it from 1997-1999.
“I have goosebumps. I’m so proud of myself. I’m proud of my team that we were able to put ourselves in such a situation,” Sabalenka said. “If I’ll be able to put myself in the history (books), it’s going to mean a lot. It’s going to mean the world to me.” Just 10 minutes into her semifinal, Sabalenka was down a break and trailed 2-0, 40-love. She was making unforced errors, shaking her head or gesturing toward her entourage in the stands after many.
But the 26-year-old from Belarus quickly figured things out, especially once Rod Laver Arena’s retractable roof was shut late in the first set because of a drizzle. She straightened her strokes, frequently using huge returns and groundstrokes to overpower the 11th-seeded Badosa, who had eliminated No. 3 Coco Gauff on Tuesday to reach her first major semifinal.
“She started to be very, very aggressive,” said Badosa, who thought about retiring last year while dealing with a stress fracture in her back. “Everything was working. Everything she was doing today, touching today, could become gold.” Sabalenka and Badosa did their best to avoid any eye contact for much of the evening, whether up at the net for the coin toss or when they crossed paths at changeovers.
One exception came early in the second set when Badosa tumbled to the court and flung her racket away to avoid injury. Badosa immediately put up a thumb to make clear she was fine. When a replay was shown on stadium video screens, Sabalenka pantomimed to indicate Badosa took a dive, and they both smiled. When the match was over, they met at the net for a lengthy hug.
During Sabalenka’s on-court interview, she joked about maybe taking Badosa — who by then was sitting in a hallway, her head bowed — on a shopping spree to make things up to her, paying for whatever the Spaniard wants.
On her way to the locker room, Sabalenka stopped to console Badosa. Later, when told what Sabalenka said about footing the bill at some stores, Badosa said: “It’s going to be something really expensive because now I think she doubled the prize money.”
