Melbourne [Australia], January 25 : US tennis player Madison Keys secured her career's first Grand Slam title after bamboozling two-time champion Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open on Saturday.
Keys, who appeared in her first Grand Slam final since the 2017 US Open, denied the number one ranked player her third consecutive Australian Open title, with a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory in Rod Laver Arena.
In a game that went right down the wire, the 29-year-old delivered the knockout punch in the final moments of the deciding set to claim her first-ever major title.
Keys mixed her backhand and forehand strokes to use the available space on the court to her advantage in the first set. Sabalenka upped the ante in the second set with a near-flawless display.
In the third and deciding set, it was a neck-to-neck affair, right from the get-go. With the scoreline reading 6-5, Keys needed to break Sabalenka's serve. She led by 15-40 before Sabalenka delivered a lethal serve and followed it up with a forehand to make it 30-40.
Keys held her nerve to take the championship point and celebrated with a beaming smile on her face. The duo shared a warm hug after the match ended.
"There's no way I'm getting through this without tears. I made my very first Grand Slam semi-final here so to have won my first Grand Slam in the same place means the absolute world to me. I have wanted this for so long. I have been in one other Grand Slam final, it didn't go my way and I didn't know if I was ever going to be able to get back to this position," Keys said as quoted from Sky Sports.
"My team believed in me every step of the way so thank you so much. They believed in me when I didn't believe in myself. Last year was so tough with some bad injuries. To be here and to be able to do it with my husband, who's dazed and confused over there, I love you all so much," she added.
On the other hand, Sabalenka's frustration was visible when she sat on the bench with a towel over her head. She even walked off the court for a brief period of time before the trophy ceremony.
"There definitely was a bit of frustration because I was so close to achieve something crazy. When you're out there, you're fighting, it seems like everything [is not] going the way you really want [it] to go," Sabalenka said.
"I just needed to throw those negative emotions at the end, just so I could give a speech [and] not stand there being disrespectful," Sabalenka added. "I was just trying to let it go and be a good person," she added.
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