Difficult as the loss was to digest at the moment, the result probably won’t be painful for too long for the 26-year old runner-up.Both finalists were weeping at the end of the Australian Open women’s final, a spectacular display of power tennis in which Madison Keys achieved what many thought impossible—she won a no-holds-barred hitting contest over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to claim her long-deferred first-major final.While Keys shed tears of unbridled joy upon realizing a career-long dream that recently appeared to be slipping away, Sabalenka sat alongside the chair umpire’s tower with a towel flung over her head, visibly weeping bitter tears. She then pulled the towel down to fully hide her face.Read More: Madison Keys wins Australian Open in Aryna Sabalenka upsetSabalenka’s disappointment was understandable. In the usual push to promote the local product, there was enormous hype surrounding Sabalenka’s drive to become just the sixth woman—and the first since Martina Hingis in 1999—to win three consecutive Australian Opens. Sabalenka had a lock on the dominant WTA storyline until the very end, crushing everyone she faced until Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova managed to wrest a set from her in the quarterfinals.But Keys—a 29-year old perpetual Grand Slam bridesmaid who struggled with her nerves in critical matches—began to crowd that cozy narrative in the second week of play. She belted her way past two recent Grand Slam champions, Elena Rybakina and WTA No. 2 Iga Swiatek, to engineer a breathtaking shift.Big-hitting contest: Each woman hit 29 winners. Sabalenka made just two more unforced errors than Keys (33-31). 2025 Robert PrangeThe final morphed from a coronation for Sabalenka into a magical narrative of redemption as Keys won, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5. The three-set match lasted just over two hours, an unusually brief interlude for a match with such a long scoreline. It tells you a lot of what you need to know about what kind of battle it was.Keys’ game was ablaze in the first set. She jumped to a 5-1 lead in the first set in just over 21 minutes. Sabalenka managed to extend the set by clawing back one of the breaks. It didn’t end up reversing the tide, but it earned her some valuable time to re-group mentally.“I think she played, like, super aggressive,” Sabalenka, who sets the bar for aggressive play these days, told reporters later. “It seemed like everything was going her way. …Then in the second set I kind of got my rhythm back. From the second set, I would say the real tennis match started.”Sabalenka’s first-serve percentage improved from a poor 59 percent in the first set to an outstanding 83 percent in the second. Meanwhile, Keys’ dropped from 86 percent to 59 percent. As Sabalenka elevated her game, Keys’ level of consistency and service proficiency dipped. When Sabalenka began to score with a potentially game-changing drop shot in the second set, it appeared almost certain that the defending champion would once again come roaring back.”I couldn’t put her in the position where she would defend and I would have a little bit more time to go for the dropshots. I didn’t have opportunity.” 2025 Getty ImagesBut Sabalenka was facing an opponent willing and able to stand toe-to-toe with her, trading roundhouse punches. This time, Keys overcame her critical flaw, the tendency to take her foot off the gas and go a little wobbly when in a position to win. She returned serve with conviction, played from further inside the court, and took time from Sabalenka—which also ended Sabalenka’s string of drop shot winners.“I’d say that the third set was just like, serve and first shot,” Sabalenka said. “I couldn’t play the rally. I couldn’t put her in the position where she would defend and I would have a little bit more time to go for the dropshots. I didn’t have opportunity.”Finally, after taking turns in control, both women began to play their best tennis at the same time. It was glorious go-for-broke tennis, the kind of tennis Keys has always had trouble producing at peak Grand Slam moments. In some ways, she out-Sabalenka’d the two-time winner in Melbourne. The most eloquent stats: Each woman tagged 29 winners. Sabalenka made just two more unforced errors (33-31).A post shared by Aryna Sabalenka (@arynasabalenka)The loss was so crushing for Sabalenka that moments after the handshake at the net, the Belarusian stalked off to her chair and smashed her racquet on the ground. It was an unfortunate display, but Sabalenka’s subsequent rationalization offered a measure of exoneration.“There definitely was a bit of frustration because I was so close to achieving something crazy,” she said. “I just needed to throw those negative emotions at the end just so I could give a [runner-up] speech, not stand there being disrespectful. I was just trying to let it go and be a good person, be respectful.”Difficult as the loss was to digest at the moment, the result probably won’t be painful for too long for the 26-year old runner-up. Her game had greater variety and nuance than ever before at this tournament. She has a lot of time left to collect more major titles, with very few current players capable of unleashing the kind of overwhelming power that helped Keys earn this win.The bad news for Swiatek and company is that Sabalenka probably isn’t going anywhere.
