American tennis star Madison Keys upset No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka to win the Australian Open on Saturday.
Keys, 29, gained 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 within the tightly contested match to win her first-ever Grand Slam match.
Keys completed with only one extra level gained than Sabalenka general, profitable 92 factors, in comparison with Sabalenka’s 91.
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Madison Keys, heart, of the U.S. reacts as she receives the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup from Evonne Goolagong Cawley after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus within the girls’s singles remaining on the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Picture/Ng Han Guan)
Sabalenka was looking for to win her third consecutive Australian Open, one thing that was final achieved — by Martina Hingis — from 1997 by 1999.
This was the second time in Keys’ profession that she had an opportunity at a significant title, her final being a 6-3, 6-0 loss to fellow countrywoman Sloane Stephens within the 2017 US Open.
Keys had excessive expectations for herself in her tennis profession, however started to simply accept the truth that she may by no means win a Grand Slam title.
“From a pretty young age, I felt like if I never won a Grand Slam, then I wouldn’t have lived up to what people thought I should have been. That was a pretty heavy burden to kind of carry around,” Keys stated.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC BOOED AFTER RETIRING FROM AUSTRALIAN OPEN SEMIFINAL MATCH WITH INJURY
Madison Keys of the U.S. reacts throughout her girls’s singles remaining match towards Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus on the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Picture/Vincent Thian)
“So I finally got to the point where I was proud of myself and proud of my career, with or without a Grand Slam. I finally got to the point where I was OK if it didn’t happen. I didn’t need it to feel like I had a good career or that I deserved to be talked about as a great tennis player.
“I really feel like lastly letting go of that sort of inner speak that I had simply gave me the flexibility to really exit and play some actually good tennis to really win a Grand Slam.”
Not only did Keys upset the No.1 ranked Sabalenka, but she also took down No. 2 ranked Iga Świątek in the semifinals en route to her Australian Open title victory.
Keys was the first woman since Serena Williams in 2005 to defeat both of the WTA’s top two players at Melbourne Park. She said that beating Swiatek gave her the confidence she could win against Sabalenka.
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Madison Keys of the U.S. speaks during a press conference after defeating Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the women’s singles final at the Australian Open tennis championship to win the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, in Melbourne, Australia, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
“Profitable that match the opposite evening towards Iga was actually sort of a giant hurdle,” Keys said. “I all the time believed that I might do it, however to do it that method — actually I believed to myself after the match that I can completely win on Saturday.”
This was Keys 46th Slam appearance, the third most before winning a women’s major title, being only Flavia Pennetta’s 49 and Marion Bartoli’s 47 appearances before they won.
“I didn’t all the time imagine that I might get again so far. However to have the ability to do it and win, it means the world to me.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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