Madison Keys defeated No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win the Australian Open on Saturday. Her share of Grand Slam disappointments.
But this time, the 19th-seeded Key played brave and precise tennis when she needed it most, winning 6-3, 2-6, 7-for her first major title. won 5 wins and denied Sabalenka a third Australian Open.
For Key, it was a complete 180 from her first Grand Slam final experience at the 2017 US Open, when her game didn’t really show and she quickly lost to friend Sloane Stephens. This time, Keys took charge early and overcame several difficulties in the middle of the match, hitting the third with another clutch shot before finally breaking to claim the Sabalenka trophy.
“I’ve wanted this for a long time and I was in another Grand Slam final and it just didn’t go my way. I didn’t know if I was going to get back into this position or not in any way. , Keys shed tears as he lifted the trophy. “They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself. Last year was really tough with a really bad injury. I didn’t know if I could do it again, but… I love you so much for being here and holding this trophy.
what happened
Keys started as strong as she could hope for. Stripe returns that unstable Sabalenka, who can find the corner with her forehand and hit the line purely with her backhand. She also made 86% of her first serve and took a lot of pressure from the rest of her game. It led to a key 5-1, but by the end of the first set a few more groundstrokes started to be missed and Sabalenka looked a little more comfortable in the rally.
Momentum carried over into the second, where Sabalenka raised her level and Key was unable to find the same shot-making consistency that lifted her to the early lead. Sabalenka grabbed an early break and it became clear that this was going the distance.
In the third set, both players hold up to 5-5.
The key moment of the match was in the middle of that game and the key was 15-30. First, Keys surprised Sabalenka and performed a perfect serve of the T that did not come back over the net. Then, in the 30th, Sabalenka destroyed her second serve and immediately swung at the foot of the baseline-deep key. But somehow, Key got into position to use Sabalenka’s pace to redirect the ball across his body to hit a clean winner on the far side line.
That clutch hold put pressure on Sabalenka to send the match to a tiebreak. But instead, some nervous errors by Sabalenka gave the key a pair of match points.
On her second, Keys hit a big return, kicked the baseline to control the rally, and decided to take a short forehand angle from the middle of the court to go for the win. Sabalenka didn’t see it coming, and as she realized she had won her first Grand Slam title, Keys threw her head over her shoulder. put his hand on her head.
what it means
Especially at this stage of her career, this is both a surprise and a hardly even run. This was not an easy tournament for her. Keys had to defeat second Iga Swieczuk in the semi-finals, Elina Svitolina in the quarter-finals, Elena Rybakina in the sixth round and former Australian finalist Daniel Collins in the third round.
Many thought Key’s best chance to ever win a major may have passed her by. One of these chances came two years ago in the US Open semifinals against Sabalenka.
“I’m glad to have you back,” Keys joked at the trophy ceremony.
While Key didn’t necessarily need a major to validate a career that has kept her in the world’s top 20 for a long time, she has spent a lot of time this past offseason designed to give her a chance to compete. Credit to her for making changes in technique and equipment at this level that she had wanted to play for years.
The most significant of these changes was prompted by her husband and coach, Bjorn Fratangelo, a former top 100 player. Intestines.
Although not the most powerful player on the women’s tour, Keys, who always felt more in control with the new setup, said the lighter frame made it easier to absorb the pace of a player like Sabalenka.