The Happy Slam is a platform for Madison Keys’ major dreams.
A courageous Madison Keys saved match point at 5-6 shocking second-seeded Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) in a pulsating and wild comeback win that propels her into her first Australian Open final.
It took bold, breathtaking tennis from Keys to complete the most captivating comeback of her career.
On match point, Keys drew one final error from Swiatek, dropped to her knees and shed tears of joy before rising with a wide smile toward husband and coach Bjorn Fratangelo.
“Still trying to catch up to everything that’s happened,” Keys told Casey Dellacqua in her on-court interview. “Yeah, I’m in the finals!
“I mean that match was just high level and she played so well and I felt I was just fighting to stay in it and then obviously really kind of ran with the second.
“And the third was just a battle. To be able to be standing here and be in the final is absolutely amazing and I’m so excited that I get to be in the final here on Saturday.”
wiatek cited Keys’ bravery as the difference in this drama.
“This match was long, so it had many different changes of momentum and many different moments that I could describe,” Swiatek told the media in Melbourne. “I guess at the end Madison, like, was kind of brave with her decisions, and she pushed me when she needed to.
“Yeah, I would say I wasn’t feeling as free as on previous matches to also push in the important moments.”
It was Keys’ 11th consecutive victory—she’s now 7-0 in three-setters this season and owns a WTA-best 13-1 record on the young year—as she denied Swiatek her maiden AO major and a shot to regain world No. 1.
The 29-year-old Keys is the first woman since her tennis hero, Venus Williams in 2017, to lose the opening set of an AO semifinal and comeback to win and reach the final.
It wasn’t easy, but it sure was an astounding match to watch unfold and will go down in AO history as a semifinal for the ages.
Ten years after her first AO semifinal, eight years after her lone Grand Slam final loss to good friend Sloane Stephens in the 2017 US Open final and just a few months after she celebrated “the happiest day of my life” marrying long-time partner Fratangelo, Keys will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final.
The top-seeded Sabalenka stopped buddy Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 in tonight’s first semifinal scoring her 20th consecutive AO win. Sabalenka, who has beaten Keys in four of five meetings, is playing to become the first woman since legendary Martina Hingis (1997-1999) to capture three consecutive Australian Open championships.
