Madison Keys has a chance for tennis immortality again — and it took everything she had to get there.
The 29-year-old American stunned No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open with a dizzying display of power and shot-making to advance to the Grand Slam final, taking the thrilling third set in a tiebreaker.
“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening,” Keys, the No. 19 seed, said. “I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. … It was so up and down and so many big points.”
Swiatek, who had dominated her way through the draw, took the first set, 7-5, before Keys came back to win the second, 6-1.
The third set was a scintillating back-and-forth battle, which stayed on serve — despite multiple break opportunities for both players — until 5-5.
Swiatek finally broke through on Keys’ serve but was unable to close the match on her own racket, failing to convert a match point and then double serving on break point.
“I felt like I blacked out there at some point and was out there running around,” said Keys, when asked about facing a match point.
Keys trailed most of the third set breaker before finally taking the final three points, winning it 10-8, to push past her Polish rival and into her first Grand Slam final since the 2017 U.S. Open.
“At the end, I feel like we were both kind of battling some nerves. … It just became who can get that final point and who can be a little bit better than the other one,” Keys said. “And I’m happy it was me.”
It won’t get any easier from here for Keys.
She will face No. 1 seed and two-time defending champ Aryna Sabalenka in the finals Saturday — going from the all-court challenge Swiatek presents to the brute power Sabalenka uses to bully opponents.
Sabalenka beat Paula Badosa, 6-4, 6-2, in the other semifinal.
Sabalenka will be looking to take her second straight Grand Slam after beating another American, Jessica Pegula, in the finals of the U.S. Open in September.