Sabalenka, Keys Set Up Australian Open Final Clash
The Women’s Singles final at the 2025 Australian Open is set, and it will pit top-seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus against 19th seeded American Madison Keys.
The two-time defending champion Sabalenka powered her way into the final in the day’s first quarterfinal on Thursday as she ousted 11th seed Paula Badosa of Spain 6-4, 6-2, reaching the championship match Down Under for the third consecutive year and improving her record in 2025 to 11-0.
Sabalenka fell behind 0-2 in the opening set and Badosa went up 40-0 in that third game, but that was when Sabalenka showed her championship mettle.
“After Love-2, Love-40, after that I’d rate that I played really great tennis,” said Sabalenka. “I mean, I played an incredible match, I think. I think when I broke her twice and I was 3-2 up, I felt like, ‘Okay, I’m back.’ I felt my game much better. I was like, ‘Okay, now it’s time to step in’.”
Badosa echoed those sentiments, and reflected on how Sabalenka turned the match around after those first couple of games.
“The first set was really tight, a good level,” said Badosa. “Then in the second set she started to be very, very aggressive. Everything was working. Everything she was doing today, touching today, could become gold. She played the best match, not even of the week, [but] from the last [few] months, for sure. If she plays like this, I mean, we can already give her the trophy.”
Standing in her way of that trophy is Keys, who outlasted second-seed Iga Swiatek 5-7, 7-1, 7-6(8) to reach the second major final of her career.
“It was so up and down, and there were so many big points and break point chances that neither one of us got,” said Keys. “Did she have a match point? I feel like I blacked out at some point and I was just out there running around. Just to be able to stay in it, keep fighting, and then a 10-point tiebreak for an extra-dramatic finish.”
Keys indeed saved a match point, while Swiatek was serving at 6-5 in the deciding third set, which helped force a back-and-forth third set into a super tiebreak.
“Even though I lost the first set, I felt like I was playing some better tennis at the end of it,” said Keys. “To be able to kind of run with that second set and really just settle, that was really nice.”
At 7-8 down in the super tiebreaker, Keys blasted an ace which was followed by a service winner, to set up a match point of her own. At 9-8, a Swiatek forehand sailed beyond the baseline, sealing Keys’ comeback victory and cementing her spot in the final.
Sabalenka leads the head-to-head with Keys 4-1.
