Keys beats Swiatek to reach Australian Open final against Sabalenka tennis news
Sabalenka will aim to win her third consecutive Australian Open title against Keyes, who defeated Swiatek in a three-set contest.
Madison Keys came back from a set down in a high-intensity tennis match to shock Iga Swiatek and reach her first Australian Open final, where she will face two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka.
Sabalenka had earlier on Thursday defeated Paula Badosa in straight sets, after which the 19th seed defeated the world number two on a final set tiebreak in a thrilling semi-final 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10- 8) won by.
The 29-year-old Keys, who was runner-up at the 2017 US Open, claimed to have lost more games against Swiatek in her previous two matches at Melbourne Park than the five-time major champion.
The American was on the brink of defeat earlier, when Swiatek served for the match at 6–5 in the third set and was a point away from ending it at 40–30. Swiatek put a backhand into the net there, and eventually got broken by double-faulting, ending the match with a tie-breaker from first to 10, two each.
“I’m still trying to come to grips with everything that’s happening. I am in the finals. Woo-hoo,” 19th-seeded Keys said after the biggest win of her career.
“That match was of such a high level… I felt like I was struggling to stay in it… To be able to get here in the final is absolutely amazing and I’m glad I can get here on Saturday.
“I think at the end we were both battling some nerves and really pushing each other. It was about who could get that last point and be a little bit better than the other one and I’m glad it was me.”
Sabalenka creates ‘PlayStation Tennis’ against Badosa
Sabalenka, who has won the Australian Open in the last two years, can become the first woman to complete a three-peat since 1999.
The Belarusian top seed defeated her best friend Badosa 6-4, 6-2 to reach her third consecutive title match at the year’s opening Grand Slam, where she will bid for her fourth major title.
Sabalenka was also far from perfect and fell 2-0 down to Badosa due to unforced errors in the opening set, but she soon made her mark and used her confident forehand to end the 11th seed’s run to the Spaniard’s first major semi-final. Used.
“I have goosebumps. “I’m very proud of myself and my team to get into this position,” Sabalenka said, setting up the possibility of a three-peat in Melbourne for the first time since Martina Hingis in 1997-99.
She said, “If I go down in history it would mean the world to me, I couldn’t even dream of it… I will go out and give it my all in the final.”
Badosa tried to recapture the fighting spirit that saw her defeat Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals in one of the tournament’s upsets, but Sabalenka’s pressure wore her down.
“If she plays like this,” Badosa said of Sabalenka, “I mean, we can give her the trophy already.”
Badosa joked that the defending champions created “PlayStation Tennis”.
“With Aryana, it’s like winners everywhere,” Badosa told reporters after suffering her sixth loss in eight matches against her friend.
“Sometimes you say, I don’t know, I’m just walking around the court because I think she’s playing PlayStation.
“She was like that today. So sometimes I’m like, ‘What’s happening?’ I don’t even have time to think.”
The two are good friends off the court but it may take some time for the Spaniard to get over the loss and reconnect with his Belarusian friend.
“She’ll probably hate me for a day or two and then we can be friends again and go shopping. I promise we will do it and I will pay for whatever she wants,” the top seed said.
The last woman to reach three consecutive finals at the first Grand Slam tournament of the year was Serena Williams, who won two from 2015 to 2017.
Martina Hingis was the most recent woman to have a threepeat, doing so from 1997 to 1999.
