Madison Keys upsets Aryna Sabalenka to win Australian Open

Madison Keys defeated Aryna Sabalenka to win the Australian Open on Saturday night in Melbourne, edging out the two-time defending champion in a three-set thriller.

Tennis bookmakers had Sabalenka as a $1.28 favourite heading into her third-consecutive final at Melbourne Park, but Keys put on one of the best striking displays of her career to blast past the top seed and win 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

The American raced out to a 5-1 lead inside 20 minutes in a stark contrast to her previous Grand Slam final appearance, which came eight years ago and saw her lose 6-3, 6-0 in an hour.

This time, she showed no signs of the nerves that had troubled her in the past, hitting freely even when Sabalenka came back to win the second set and force a decider.

With Sabalenka serving at 5-6 to stay in the championship match, Keys swung for the fences and got just reward, breaking the Belarusian to claim her maiden Grand Slam title.

After the match, she credited her bravery in these pressure moments for her victory on Saturday.

“Definitely one of the things that I’m most proud of,” she said.

“Being able to at the end just kind of… I almost felt like I was trying to beat her to it.

“If I wasn’t going to go for it, I knew she was going to.

“It really kind of just pushed me to kind of thread the needle a little bit more.

“I just kept telling myself, ‘Be brave, go for it, just kind of lay it all out on the line.’

“Kind of at that point, no matter what happens, if I do that, then I can be proud of myself.

“It just made it a little bit easier.”

Sabalenka’s devastation was clear after failing to execute the first women’s three-peat in Melbourne since Martina Hingis in 1999.

The world No.1 smashed her racquet on the court after shaking hands with Keys, before covering her face and crying.

“There definitely was a bit of frustration because I was so close to achieve something crazy,” she said of the outburst.

“When you’re out there, you’re fighting, but it seems like everything going not the way you really want to go.

“I just needed to throw those negative emotions at the end just so I could give a speech, not stand there being disrespectful.

“I was just trying to let it go and be a good person, be respectful.

“It’s okay. I mean, I’m the one who knows that after tough losses, there is good wins.

“So I’ll keep working and make sure that next time, if I’ll be in this situation, I’ll play definitely better.”

Despite the loss, tennis betting sites are still high on Sabalenka’s chances of adding to her Grand Slam tally this year.

She sits on the second line of tennis betting ahead of the French Open ($5), and is favourite to win Wimbledon ($4.33) and the US Open ($3.25).

Keys, meanwhile, has had her odds shortened significantly at Bet365, now paying just $15 to win the US Open (the sixth line of betting) and is on the seventh line of betting at the French Open ($26) and Wimbledon ($23).

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