Miraculous Madison Keys advances to second Grand Slam final after epic Australian Open deciding tiebreak win over Iga Swiatek

Thursday, 23 January 2025 at 13:52

Madison Keys has produced an epic win to set up a final with Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 Australian Open defeating Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(10-8). She is into a second Grand Slam final after drama of the highest order.

She saved a match point against Swiatek and looked to be fading away but produced the goods in a tie-break in an incredible turnaround. She reaches the second final seven years after the first at the 2017 US Open and it means that Aryna Sabalenka stays as World No.1 for now no matter what happens.

Set one was a slew of breaks as Swiatek lost her serve to start the match but got it back and finally held after another two at 3-2. She then broke the serve of Keys to make it 4-2 before going on to lead 5-2. But Keys had different answers saving a set point and breaking only for the prolonged set to go the way of Swiatek anyway.

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The second was a different story in sheer domination from Keys who barely let Swiatek lay a glove on her. She eased through 6-1 to force a decider to shellshock the Pole who won minimal points all set and the only game she got was a break that was immediately cancelled out.

But the drama came in the decider. Keys couldn't find a break and it kept going as she missed two chances from 40-15 at 4-3 up to go one away and then had to miraculously save break points herself against Swiatek. But she succumbed as Swiatek superbly turned it round for a 6-5 lead.

Swiatek missed a match point though and Keys lived on but double faults blighted her as she immediately handed the impetus over to the Pole who eased into a 4-2 lead. But back came Keys who turned it around from 7-5 down breaking serve at 7-7 and she brought up a match point of her own to make it 9-8 before completing a remarkable win over Swiatek.

WOW!

Madison Keys saves a match point and beats world #2 and 5-time Grand Slam champ Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(10-8) to reach a second Grand Slam final, more to an seven years after the first, at the 2017 US Open.

Sabalenka will stay at #1 on Monday. pic.twitter.com/G1WgVOjehM
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) January 23, 2025

Samuel GillEditor-in-Chief

Samuel Gill is the Chief Content Officer (CCO) of TennisUpToDate.com, a role he has held since 2020. He is responsible for editorial governance across the platform, including setting content standards, overseeing accuracy and consistency, and guiding long-term editorial strategy. Since joining, he has contributed more than 10,000 articles and editorial pieces across the TennisUpToDate network, playing a central role in the daily operation and development of the site.

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