It has been seven years and 24 Majors since the world’s two best women’s players met in a Grand Slam singles final. The wait goes on.
It has been eight years since Madison Keys played in the summit clash of a Major. That wait has finally ended.
After World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka held up her end of the bargain on Friday, overcoming a tough start to eventually subdue 11th seed, and close friend, Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 in the first semifinal, Keys stunned second seed Iga Swiatek in an enthralling classic that went the distance.
When Keys, the 19th seed from the United States, finally dispatched Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8) after saving a match point, the disbelief was evident. As she knelt on the court with tears streaming down her face, she could hardly soak up the adoration of the capacity crowd at Rod Laver Arena that stayed for the nail-biting finish past midnight.
“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening. I’m in the finals. Woo-hoo! That match was just (at) such a high level… I was just fighting to stay in it,” Keys said on court after the match.
Multiple generations of players have passed since Keys’s first breakthrough came at Melbourne Park in 2015 as a teenager when she reached the semifinal by beating Venus Williams before coming up short against Serena. In the middle, there was a run to the final at her home Slam in New York in 2017, and a couple of other near-misses.
For the once-prodigal talent to have won her first Australian Open semifinal a decade after reaching her first speaks of the steadiness and consistency that she has fallen back on for much of her career, and fell back on once again on Thursday.
This was a match marked by the ferocity of Keys’s ball-striking, not only in its power but also in its consistency. As Swiatek’s level swung from loose to elite in the high-pressure environment of this closely-fought contest, the American stayed consistent from the baseline, even when under the pump, to get over the line.
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When the going got tough
Swiatek had been peerless in the tournament till then, having not had her serve broken since the first round and dropping only 14 games through her first five matches. But the real test of her resolve was to come when things stopped going her way, in match-ups where she does not enjoy unlimited time to unload her groundstrokes – and particularly her forehand – from the baseline.
It has been a sticking point in the 23-year-old’s flourishing career, which includes five Majors already, that when the tide turns against her, her response can often be erratic.
In that case, a matchup against a solid-serving aggressive baseliner like Keys, who was in good form and can strike the ball as pure as anyone else on tour when it is in her strike zone, was built up to be a bigger challenge than what she had faced in the tournament so far.
While Swiatek’s response to being put under pressure may not have been steely cool, this result was more contingent on how Keys refused to go away, and dragged herself back from difficult situations by not allowing her level from the baseline to fall.
The duo traded breaks early in the first set but it was Swiatek’s first-strike aggression that gave her the edge to eke out the first set. But once the windy conditions were subdued with the roof closed, Keys went for broke on her big, flat groundstrokes which skidded on the quick hardcourts and robbed Swiatek of time – especially when big returns were put back into her side of the court.
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The second set was a one-sided offensive but Swiatek showed mettle to serve well and keep the knife-edged third set on track, even fashioning some chances on the Keys serve.
In an even contest for much of its first and third sets, as the stats and scoreline suggest, Keys held on through the force of a forehand that went big crosscourt and rushed the Swiatek forehand, crushing any neutral balls that were there to be put away. The confidence in her game plan proved telling on the pressure points of the match – when the American was breakpoint down or when she was battling in the deciding 10-point tiebreaker. It made all the difference as she left with the victory.
“I’ve been doing a lot of personal work with all of that. One of the big things, after I lost to Aryna (Sabalenka) at the US Open, I felt like I tried to play safe and wasn’t playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad,” Keys later said, per Reuters. “I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought ‘Man, I should have gone for it.’ I didn’t want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there.”
Tough task
Saturday’s final is no small task, though. Keys takes on Sabalenka, who is in her fifth consecutive hard court Major final and is bidding to win a third successive Australian Open title.
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Her form and winning streak are daunting but Sabalenka has not been imperious the way Swiatek had been in the tournament. Instead, she has shown that she is capable of changing gears and raising her game when required the most.
On Friday, Sabalenka was down 0-2, 0-40 before finding a new level to completely overpower her opponent and leaving her bereft of any ideas, winning 12 of the next 16 games and breaking down the door when it was left slightly ajar.
Keys may be equally bold and consistent in the final, but beating Sabalenka on a hard court represents an altogether greater challenge.
