An American is back in a Grand Slam final. Veteran Madison Keys took down No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek in a thrilling three-set match (5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8)) in the Australian Open semifinals Thursday to advance to just the second Grand Slam final of her career.
Keys, 29, used her power to control many of the points against the agile Swiatek, who bows out of the Aussie Open still without collecting the title in her career. After battling back from down 5-2 in the first set, Keys was broken again late to fall 7-5 and needed a turnaround.
That came in the form of four breaks of Swiatek’s serve in the second set to win 6-1 and set up the pivotal final set with all the momentum on Keys’ side.
“Yeah, I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening,” Keys said after the match. “I’m in the finals. That match was such high level and she played so well and I was just fighting to stay in it. To be standing here and be in the finals, I’m just so happy I get to be here on Saturday.”
After clean service games through the first seven, Keys found herself in trouble twice on serve to go down love-40. She managed to stave off the first break but couldn’t do the same on the second to go down 5-6. Needing a break to stay in the match and go to a 10-point tiebreak, Keys managed to get Swiatek down 30-40. Then, the five-time Grand Slam champion double-faulted to give the American life heading into the tiebreak.
Keys’ stamina was clearly drained as she continued to go long on many of her returns in the tiebreak. Keys never led until the final points. Down 7-8, Keys managed to hold onto both her points on serve and force Swiatek to try and stay alive when Swiatek played a return shot deep and out.
“I feel like at the end, we were both kind of battling some nerves and we were pushing each other,” Keys said. “I’m just happy it was me.”
The championship match will mark Keys’ second Grand Slam final of her career, with her only other appearance coming at the 2017 US Open, which she lost to Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-0. She will take on two-time reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, who dispatched Paula Badosa in her semifinal match 6-4, 6-2.
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