Madison Keys surprises ARYNA Sabalenka to win the exciting Australian Open Final | Australian Open 2025

On a wonderful duel of the highest quality in Melbourne, Madison Keys played his life’s best match to surpass ARYNA Sabalenka and win her first Grand Slam title, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Now 29 years old, Keys’ sovereign, long-awaited triumph has given her the title of the fourth oldest first time the women’s grand slam champion in the open era. She has achieved it in her 46th Grand Slam performance, the second highest number for a first-time master of the open era. Two days after her incredible, instant classic triumph over Iga Swatek, No. 2, Keys is the first player to defeat both the two best players at a grand slam since Svetlana Kuznetsova won the French Open in 2009.

After several years of rumors of an endless talented young tennis player born in the US state of Illinois, Keys made his long-awaited debut on the WTA Tour in April 2009. As a 14-year-old Keys had already signed several endorsements and a management contract that many tried to get a early piece of the cake. When she defeated Alla Kudryavtseva to become one of the youngest winners in the history of the Tour, the hype went into exaggeration. For many, she was undoubtedly a future Grand Slam Master.

In the following years, when she did not live up to the expectations that both she and the people around her hold on to, there were times when attempts to win tennis matches were paralyzing for Keys. To move on, she had to take a step back first and reconcile with the reality that it might not happen to win a Grand Slam title.

Sixteen years later, Keys eventually stood up for the pressure as she fought against and overpowered Sabalenka, No. 1-seed and twice the Australian Open champion.

Along with many years of feeling that she had not fully lived up to her talent, Keys has also finally put the nightmare to bed from her first Grand Slam final at the 2017 US Open, where she did not manage the pressure from the apartment and was defeated. 6-3, 6-0 of her close friend Sloane Stephens. Acceptance has also been a significant theme in her recovery from the setback as she learned to accept the significant nerves that come with these apartments.

The initial stages of Sabalenka’s third Australian Open final emphasized how hard each of these apartments are. She was clearly nervous and opened the final with a double error, and then she hit another double error in her first service game when she was immediately broken. While Sabalenka fought, Keys crashed into the fight with confidence and faith, and served brilliantly and knocked in advance as she immediately consolidated her early lead.

Given that Sabalenka is so used to being the most devastating ball striker against almost every single opponent she meets, this is a particularly difficult match-up for her. Keys is one of the greatest ball strikers in the history of the sport, and when she destroyed Forehands from the beginning, the sound of the ball that broke out of her strings gasped from Rod Laver Arena voices. She remained engaged in her aggression until the last.

With his Australian Open hanging in the balance, Sabalenka forced himself into the fight from the beginning of set two. She eradicated her previously sloppy offended mistakes from her game, she improved her serve and began pushing Keys’ second serve. When she finally began to force Keys on the run, the fight turned. Sabalenka also showed how she has evolved. She also trusted a lot on dropshots to reveal Keys’ movement and keep the American by guessing.

Sabalenka burst into the third set determined to use Momentum on his back to break Keys down forever. But Keys reacted brilliantly from the start of the set and served well under pressure early as she regained her serving rhythm. In the middle of the third set, as both players got closer to the trophy, they rose both spectacularly for the occasion and combined to the most brilliant stretch of fearless first strike tennis as both players tried to take control as early as possible.

As both players drove through their service games with dominant servings and bold aggression behind the first ball, Keys’ fast teams put 5-4 Sabalenka under pressure on the scoreboard. When Sabalenka got up to the pressure and held the serve to 5-5, Keys excavated brilliantly out of a 15-30 hole and held the serve to 6-5 with two incredible forhand winners. Another match away, Keys got up and played his life’s return game as he swung for the fences until the match was over, and a Grand Slam trophy was finally hers.