At the 2015 Australian Open, American Madison Keys, 19, made his first semi-final of the Grand Chelem. She had beaten Venus Williams to get there and would be refused an appearance in the final by the possible champion Serena Williams.
On Thursday, a decade later, Keys, 29, made his way in his first Open Aussie final, beating Iga Swiatek n ° 2 in the world with a combination of power and raised that Swiatek could not defeat. Keys, adrenched the 19th and playing the best tennis of his life, overcome each challenge that Swiatek launched him, emerging with an exciting victory of 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (8) in two hours and 35 minutes.
Swiatek had crossed the tournament before meeting keys, leaving zero sets and losing a large total of 14 games in five games. But Keys challenged Swiatek of his power, breaking seven AS and 36 winners, without ever letting Swiatek rhythm. Keys brought Swiatek to the limit of the first set, giving Swiatek his first real challenge of the whole tournament. Once Swiatek won the set, I felt like she had finally taken control of the match.
The keys then absolutely dominated Swiatek in the second set. It is rare to see Swiatek being almost uncompetitive in any set against any player, but it was one of these times. Keys was relentless, closing swiatek on every occasion, overwhelming it from the speed of his feedback. She built an advance of 5-0 on Swiatek in just 18 minutes and won the set in just 26 minutes.
After two breathtaking sets, the third ending with a break in equality of winning was perfection. Keys and Swiatek fought for each point, but with an advance of 5-3 at first, it seemed that Swiatek would easily win. The keys, however, would not disappear. She hunted Swiatek, never letting her go too far, until she finished equalizing 7-7. She broke her seventh AS of the match to equalize Swiatek at 8-8, then won her 10th and last point on an uncompromising error by SwiTek.
After meeting Swiatek on the net, the keys collapsed on the ground and crying, then sobbed in his towel. The final match on Saturday is only the second final of the Grand Chelem in his career and his first in eight years.
Keys has never won a major, and she will find it difficult to pass the head n ° 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who sent Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 in 86 minutes to make the final. Sabalenka, who is looking for his third consecutive open Australian trophy, also deals in power, and as Swiatek had a relatively easy path to the final. She dropped only one set in the six games she played by leading to the final, and beat the 27, 14 and 11 seeds on her way. But if Keys can use her power intelligently and play the kind of tennis she played on Thursday, she has a real chance to beat the reigning queen of Melbourne Park.
The tennis landscape has changed a lot during the 10 years that Keys lost his first Grand Chelem semi-final in Melbourne. But in some ways, that has not changed at all. There is always a powerful enemy to defeat, whether Serena Williams or Sabalenka. But now, with a decade of tennis to his credit, we have seen that Keys has the capacity to bring together all his tools – both physical and mental – to challenge his opponent. In the final on Saturday, she controls her own destiny.
