The irresistible force of Aryna Sabalenka meets the unbreakable spirit of Madison Keys in an Australian Open women’s singles final on Saturday that promises to be a thunderous slugfest. Defending champion Sabalenka was hailed by beaten semi-finalist Paula Badosa as being so good it was “like she’s playing a PlayStation” after dishing out a merciless straight-sets bludgeoning to her good friend. The never-say-die American Keys, who will turn 30 next month, saved eight break points and a match point in a nerve-shredding final set against Iga Swiatek that went all the way to a 10-point tiebreak.
“Definitely some big-hitting. I think that is going to happen,” the powerful 19th seed Keys predicted of the final. “Not a lot of long points.”
Keys and Sabalenka have met five times previously, with the Belarusian winning four of them, most recently on the Beijing hard courts last year.
Keys’s sole win came on grass in Berlin in 2021.
“She’s playing incredible tennis,” said Sabalenka.
“She’s a very aggressive player, serving well, moving well. She’s in a great shape.
“It’s going to be a great battle. We had a lot of great battles in the past.”
Sabalenka will remain world number one after Swiatek’s defeat while Keys is guaranteed to be back in the top 10 for the first time since 2019 in the new rankings.
Both players are in rampant form and on 11-match win streaks after winning their respective warm-up events.
Melbourne queen
Sabalenka, the modern day queen of Melbourne Park, has won 20 straight matches on the famous blue hard courts.
If she makes it 21 it will see her complete a treble not witnessed this century.
The last person to achieve the three-peat in Melbourne was Martina Hingis in 1999 and only four other women have done it — Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles.
Three in a row is a rare achievement at any Slam and has only been done this century on three occasions.
At Roland Garros Justine Henin completed the treble in 2007 and Iga Swiatek emulated it last year.
Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles but only managed a hat-trick once, at the US Open from 2012-14.
Sabalenka will be in her fifth Slam final, Keys in only her second, having lost the 2017 US Open final 6-3, 6-0 to Sloane Stephens.
“I’ve obviously thought of that match endlessly for the past eight years,” said Keys, who broke down in tears after beating Swiatek in a seesawing contest that lasted 2hr 35min.
“I was so consumed with being nervous and the moment that I never really gave myself a chance to actually play.
“You can also play tennis through that, I think is something that I’ve been working really hard on.
“That’s one of the biggest lessons that I can take from that US Open final.”
Topics mentioned in this article
