Showing posts with label Australian Open Final. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australian Open Final. Show all posts
Sunday, 1 February 2026
Monday, 27 January 2025
Sunday, 26 January 2025
Saturday, 25 January 2025
MADISON KEYS STUNS ARYNA SABALENKA IN THRILLER TO WIN AUSTRALIA OPEN TITLE
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| Madison Keys holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup and poses with ball kids after defeating Aryna Sabalenka at the Australian Open tennis champion |
Underdog Madison Keys upset Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final on Saturday to win her first Grand Slam crown at the age of 29.
The American ended world number one Sabalenka's dream of becoming the first woman for 26 years to win a third successive Melbourne Park singles title.
Keys yelled in delight and wiped away tears on securing the title after withstanding a fierce fightback from the Belarusian two-time defending champion.
Sabalenka, the 2023 and 2024 champion, buried her head in a towel after her 20-match win streak at Melbourne Park was ended.
For 19th-seeded Keys it was the culmination of a 15-year journey from teenage prodigy to major winner.
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| Madison Keys, right, reacts as she holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after defeating Aryna Sabalenka. AP |
"I have wanted this for so long and I have been in one other Grand Slam final and it did not go my way," said an emotional Keys, whose coach Bjorn Fratangelo is also her husband. "I didn't know if I was ever going to get back to this position to try to win a trophy again."
The American had been tipped as a future world number one after winning her maiden WTA Tour match at the age of 14.
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| Madison Keys plays a forehand return to Aryna Sabalenka. AP |
She made her first major semi-final at Melbourne Park 10 years ago as a 19-year-old, but a decade on she can finally call herself a Grand Slam champion.
"I made my very first Grand Slam semi-final here in Melbourne," said Keys, the runner-up at the US Open in 2017.
"So to now have won my first Grand Slam in the same place means the absolute world to me. "My team believed in me every step of the way. So thank you so much," added Keys, who will now equal her career-high seventh in the world ranking she attained nine years ago.
Madison Keys is embraced by her team as she holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after defeating Aryna Sabalenka. AP.
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| Madison Keys is embraced by her team as she holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after defeating Aryna Sabalenka. AP |
"They believed in me when I didn't believe in myself, and helped me every step of the way. Last year was so tough, with some really bad injuries, I didn't know if I was gonna be able to do it again."
'What a tournament'
Keys becomes the fourth oldest first-time winner of a major since the Open Era began in 1968.
Sabalenka was gracious after a first Melbourne defeat since 2022. "First of all, Madison, what a tournament. You have been fighting really hard to get this trophy," Sabalenka said. "I really feel like it's home when I'm here and I'll come back stronger and do my best next year."
It was Keys who came out of the blocks playing exemplary tennis to put Sabalenka under pressure and race to the first set in 35 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
Madison Keys holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after defeating Aryna Sabalenka. AP
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| Madison Keys holds the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after defeating Aryna Sabalenka. AP |
The Belarusian began to flip the script in the second set, breaking in the third game and moving ominously ahead 3-1.
Another break followed on a brilliant Sabalenka cross-court pass and she levelled the match after an hour and 20 minutes on court.
The 26-year-old Sabalenka by now was timing the ball much better and a younger Keys might have buckled. But this mature version of Keys, who battled all the way to beat Iga Swiatek in a 10-point final-set tiebreak in the semi-finals, is made of sterner stuff.
At 5-6 when Sabalenka served to take it to another final-set tiebreak, Keys brought up two match points.
She held her nerve to secure the long-awaited title on the second with her 29th winner after 2hr 2min.
- Agence France-Presse
Sunday, 28 January 2024
JANNIK SINNER WINS AUSTRALIAN OPEN| CLAIMS FIRST MAJOR
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| Reuters |
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Jannik Sinner rallied from two sets down to beat Daniil Medvedev in the Australian Open final 3-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday and clinch his first Grand Slam title.
Sinner, 22, was playing in a major final for the first time. He got there by ending Novak Djokovic's long domination of the tournament in a semifinal upset.
He's the first Italian to win the Australian Open title in what could be a generational shift in tennis.
For 2021 US Open champion Medvedev, the loss was his fifth in six major finals. The third-seeded Medvedev set a record with his fourth five-set match of the tournament and time on court at a major in the Open era, his 24 hours and 17 minutes surpassing Carlos Alcaraz's 23:40 at the 2022 US Open.
Medvedev lost back-to-back finals here to Djokovic in 2021 and to Rafael Nadal -- after holding a two-set lead -- the following year. He won three five-set matches to reach the championship match this time and had two comebacks from two sets down. Sinner dropped only one set through six rounds -- in a third-set tiebreaker against Djokovic -- until he lost two straight to Medvedev.
It wasn't until a break in the sixth game of the fifth set that he really had a full grip on his first Grand Slam title.
Sunday, 29 January 2023
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