By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia — When Madison Keys stepped into Rod Laver Arena at 7:37 p.m. on Saturday night ahead of the Australian Open final, she strode right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the trophy that goes to the women’s champion and was placed on a pedestal near the entrance to the court.
Keys didn’t break stride. Didn’t stop to stare. That bit of hardware then was placed near the net for the pre-match coin toss, close as can be to where the American stood. Close enough to touch. Close enough to feel real. Also right there was her opponent, top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion at Melbourne Park, who would not make things easy on this cool, breezy evening.
Exactly 2½ hours – and one 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Sabalenka – later, there was Keys, smiling the widest smile while holding that silver trophy with both hands, a Grand Slam champion for the first time at age 29. This was Keys’ second chance to play for a major title: The first ended in a lopsided loss at the 2017 U.S. Open, an experience that taught her she would need to be able to play through nerves.
“I have wanted this for so long,” said Keys, who was born in Illinois and now is based in Florida, “and I have been in one other Grand Slam final, and it didn’t go my way, and I didn’t know if I was going to get back in this position.”
Sure did. She is the oldest woman to become a first-time Slam champ since Flavia Pennetta was 33 at the 2015 U.S. Open. This was the 46th Slam appearance for Keys, the third most before winning a women’s major title, behind only Pennetta’s 49 and Marion Bartoli’s 47 when she won Wimbledon in 2013.
Keys did not take an easy path, either.
Before this three-set victory came one against No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, saving a match point along the way. Not since Serena Williams in 2005 had a player defeated both of the WTA’s top two women at Melbourne Park.
“Madison: Wow, what a tournament,” Sabalenka said.
“Enjoy the celebration,” she told Keys. “Enjoy the really fun part.”
Keys, ranked 14th and seeded 19th, prevented Sabalenka from earning what would have been her third women’s trophy in a row at the Australian Open – something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997-99 – and her fourth major title overall.
When it ended, Keys covered her face with her hands, then raised her arms. Soon, she was hugging her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo – who has been her coach since 2023 – and other members of her team, before sitting on her sideline bench and laughing.
Sabalenka chucked her racket, covered her head with a white towel and briefly left the court, before returning for the post-match ceremony.
“I just needed … that time for myself to kind of switch off and forget and … be respectful,” Sabalenka explained later. “Just wasn’t my day.”
Keys broke three times in the first set, helped in part by Sabalenka’s four double-faults and 13 total unforced errors. But don’t think this was merely an instance of Sabalenka being her own undoing.
Keys had a lot to do with the way things were going. She compiled an 11-4 edge in winners in the opening set, managing to out-hit the big-hitting Sabalenka repeatedly.
For a stretch, it seemed as though every shot off the strings of Keys’ racket – the one she switched to ahead of this season, at Fratangelo’s urging, to protect her oft-injured right shoulder and to make it easier to control her considerable power – was landing precisely where she wanted.
Near a corner. On a line. Out of the reach of Sabalenka, a 26-year-old from Belarus.
Also important was the way Keys, whose left thigh was taped for the match, covered every part of the court, racing to get to balls and send them back over the net with intent. On one terrific defensive sequence, she sprinted for a forehand that drew a forehand into the net from Sabalenka, capping a break for a 4-1 lead.
Never one to hide her emotions, Sabalenka kicked a ball after netting a volley and dropped her racket after missing an overhead.
She went to the locker room before the second set, and whether that helped clear her head or slowed Keys’ momentum – or both – the final’s complexion soon changed. Keys’ first-serve percentage dipped from 86% in the first set to 59% in the second. Sabalenka raised her winner total to 13 in the second set and began accumulating, and converting, break points.
When she sent a backhand down the line to force an error by Keys for a break and a 2-1 lead in the second, Sabalenka shook her left fist and gritted her teeth. The action in the third set was tight and tense, without so much as a single break point until its final game, when Keys came through with one last forehand winner.
Here’s how close this was: Keys won just one more point than Sabalenka, 92-91. Both finished with 29 winners.
Keys had to wait for this moment, yes, but it did arrive.
American Madison Keys, 29, celebrates after defeating two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open final on Saturday (overnight PT) in Melbourne. It is her first Grand Slam title. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
SINNER VS. ZVEREV
It’s not often that a man is able to follow up his first Grand Slam title by repeating as the champion at the same tournament a year later, which is what Jannik Sinner will be trying to do Sunday (late Saturday night PT) when he faces Alexander Zverev in the Australian Open final.
The last time it happened was nearly 20 years ago: Rafael Nadal accomplished that sort of repeat at the 2005 and 2006 French Opens. He turned out OK.
For the top-ranked Sinner, the past year also included the doping case that is still unresolved. He tested positive for a trace amount of an anabolic steroid twice in March, which didn’t become public until his exoneration was announced shortly before the start of play at the U.S. Open – which he won. There is a hearing in the World Anti-Doping Agency’s appeal scheduled in April.
“He finds playing tennis matches to be his safe place. That’s where he can go and do his thing and feel like this is what he knows, this is what he understands, what is what he’s good at. It become a home for him to step on to the court and play tennis,” said one of Sinner’s two coaches, Darren Cahill, who will leave the team after this season.
“There’s been a lot of pressure around him for the last nine months now, since April last year. He deals with it as well as anybody that I’ve ever seen deal with pressure,” Cahill said. “He’s an amazing young man that’s been able to put that to one side. … He has a clear conscience.”
Over these two weeks in Australia, Sinner also dealt with health issues. He got medical attention when he felt dizzy and had an upset stomach during his fourth-round victory over No. 13 Holger Rune, then cramping late in his semifinal win against 21st-seeded American Ben Shelton.
“There’s a lot of things going on, on and off the court. I try to isolate myself a little bit, trying to be myself on the court. Sometimes it’s a bit easier. There are days where it’s easier, days where I struggle a little bit more,” said Sinner, a 23-year-old from Italy who can become the youngest man to win consecutive championships at the Australian Open since Jim Courier in 1992-93.
“I’m just happy to put myself in this position again,” Sinner said, “to play for a big trophy again.”
Standing in his way is No. 2 Zverev, a 27-year-old from Germany who is 0-2 in previous major finals, losing both in five sets – to Dominic Thiem at the 2020 U.S. Open after taking the first two sets and holding a match point, and to Carlos Alcaraz at last year’s French Open after leading by two sets to one. Zverev won his semifinal in Paris last June hours after an out-of-court settlement was announced in Berlin that ended a trial stemming from an ex-girlfriend’s accusation of assault during a 2020 argument.
Zverev got his spot in the Australian Open final – play is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. local time (12:30 a.m. PT) on Sunday – when 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic stopped playing because of a leg injury just one set into their semifinal on Friday.
This will be the first title match at Rod Laver Arena between the men seeded 1 and 2 since No. 1 Djokovic defeated No. 2 Nadal in 2019.
“Jannik has been the best player in the world for the past 12 months,” Zverev said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
That is not really up for debate.
Sinner went 73-6 in 2024 with eight titles, the most on the ATP Tour since 2016, and is currently on a 20-match winning streak that began late last season.
He is listed as a -275 money-line favorite against Zverev, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
But don’t expect Sinner to proclaim that status or be willing to talk about himself in glowing terms.
“Back of my head, I also know that I’m 23 years old, and I am not perfect, no? I know that I have things still to improve. I have certain areas where I can get better. That’s why we work,” Sinner said. “Every day is a big challenge. Every day you have a different opponent. You try to understand what’s happening. Sometimes you have some issues and then trying to understand that whatever works best for that day and trying to go for it.”