Madison Keys crushed Aryna Sabalenka's dreams of an Australian Open three-peat with an epic victory over the world number one in Saturday's women's singles final in Melbourne.
Sabalenka came into the weekend's showpiece aiming to become the first woman since Martina Hingis in 1999 to win three consecutive titles Down Under, having taken home the trophy in 2023 and 2024.
However, the top seed was a shadow of her usual self in the opener and could not build on a second-set revival, as 29-year-old Keys prevailed 6-3 2-6 7-5 to earn a long-awaited first Grand Slam title.
The American 19th seed had only competed in one major final before the 2025 Melbourne showpiece - losing to Sloane Stephens in the 2017 US Open final - but her tremendous triumph Down Under was more than merited.
Keys has also written a new chapter of Australian Open history, becoming the first women's singles player to take the title having not won a single match in straight sets from the fourth round onwards.
Both the 29-year-old and Sabalenka let emotion take over at the end, as Keys cried tears of euphoric joy while an inconsolable Sabalenka smashed her racquet and draped a towel over her head before making her way off court.
How Keys sank Sabalenka to achieve Grand Slam dream
The Keys to victory!@Madison_keys caps an incredible fortnight with a breakthrough Grand Slam title!
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 25, 2025
She beats Collins, Rybakina, Svitolina, Swiatek and Sabalenka to claim the crown.@wwos • @espn • @eurosport • @wowowtennis • #AusOpen • #AO2025 pic.twitter.com/p2RdID6JQc
Fearing no foe after an extraordinary three-set win over world number two Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals, Keys unsurprisingly came out firing and hitting hard against Sabalenka, who was her own worst enemy in the first set.
The Belarusian was broken in the opening game of the match and soon fell 5-1 down, although she was able to claw one of those breaks back while Keys was serving for the first set after also saving a set point.
However, Sabalenka then lost serve straight after to cede a woeful first set, in which she only fired four winners, committed the same number of double faults and racked up 13 unforced errors.
The world number one made vast improvements on her first serve in the second set, though, while also increasing her winners count to 13 and saving all three break points that an increasingly beleaguered Keys managed to fashion.
As expected, neither finalist gave much away in the championship-deciding set, where Keys continued to drive some ferocious winners down her forehand wing and lost just three points behind her first serve.
Returning for the title in the pivotal 12th game, Keys fashioned two match points on the Sabalenka serve as the defending champion netted a forehand, although Sabalenka was able to save one with a venomous first serve.
The world number one only delayed Keys's coronation, though, as after a short-lived rally, the 29-year-old blasted one final forehand winner out of Sabalenka's reach to earn her crown as the Queen of Melbourne.
Ben Knapton
