At the destination of her dreams, Madison Keys threw her arms in the air in disbelief and buried her face in her towel – then she flashed her biggest grin and cried with joy.
The American has dethroned the queen of Melbourne and sensationally won her first Grand Slam title. Keys beat Aryna Sabalenka after an impressive performance in the final and prevented the world number one from scoring a hat-trick of titles at the Australian Open.
The 6:3, 2:6, 7:5 in a hard-fought game made Keys the first American Grand Slam winner since Coco Gauff at the US Open 2023. After a good two hours, the 29-year-old converted her second match point – and crowned it in what is already her 46th attempt at a major tournament. The sensational success is garnished with prize money of more than two million euros.
“I feel so much at home in Melbourne. Winning my first Grand Slam here means the world to me,” said Keys at the award ceremony in a cracking voice: “I’m so happy.”Keys had already reached the semi-finals six times before the tournament began reached the final of a major once, but was never able to take the final step. In the semi-finals in Melbourne she surprisingly defeated Iga Swiatek from Poland, second in the world rankings.
The shocked Sabalenka, however, missed out on becoming the first player since the Swiss Martina Hingis (1997-1999) to win the tournament three times in a row. Disappointed, she fled to the catacombs of the Rod Laver Arena after the match point.
After 20 victories in a row, Sabalenka’s impressive series in Melbourne came to a bitter end – but the 26-year-old Belarusian defended her top position in the world rankings at the Australian Open.
Emotional decision sentence
The evening began with an elaborate music show in the packed arena. At the sporting level, the world rankings were 14th. the tone. Keys showed a highly concentrated performance and took the serve from the nervous-looking Sabalenka, who produced several double faults, right at the beginning of the first set.
As in her surprise victory over Swiatek in the semifinals, the American was able to rely on her serve, and she also posed problems for Sabalenka with her strong groundstrokes. “She’s so in the flow, this Madison Keys,” enthused ex-national coach Barbara Rittner on the “Eurosport” microphone. Consequently, the first set went to the outsider after just 35 minutes, even if Sabalenka slowly collected herself.
The defending champion had already secured her top position in the world rankings by eliminating her big rival Swiatek. And Sabalenka finally played like a number one at the beginning of the second set. During a break, the 26-year-old brought some of her rackets to the stringer and quickly took the lead with two breaks. Sabalenka picked up the trail of Steffi Graf, who triumphed three times in Melbourne between 1988 and 1990.
It would be “crazy,” Sabalenka said before the match, to possibly soon be mentioned in the same breath as several “legends.” However, in the very emotional decisive sentence she missed out on earning this honor. The strong-nerved Keys won the high-class game with a show of willpower.