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Sabalenka Beats Gauff to Reach Australian Open Final

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after victory against USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)
Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after victory against USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)
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Sabalenka Beats Gauff to Reach Australian Open Final

Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after victory against USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)
Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates after victory against USA's Coco Gauff during their women's singles semi-final match on day 12 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2024. (Photo by Anthony WALLACE / AFP)

Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka avenged a US Open final loss to Coco Gauff and became the first woman since Serena Williams to reach back-to-back finals at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Sabalenka attacked Gauff’s serve throughout a 7-6 (2), 6-4 semifinal win, The Associated Press reported.
Sabalenka is on a 13-match roll at Melbourne Park, where she made her Grand Slam breakthrough last year. Williams reached consecutive finals here in 2015, '16 and ’17.
Gauff went into the semifinals unbeaten in 2024 after winning a title in Auckland, New Zealand.
The 19-year-old American was on a 12-match winning streak in majors and attempting to be the first player since Naomi Osaka in 2020-21 to win the US Open and Australian Open titles back to back.
She'd worked out how to beat Sabalenka in New York last September to win her first major title, but didn't have the answers this time against the only player in the final four with semifinal experience in Australia.
The first set contained six service breaks, with both players missing opportunities to serve it out.
Sabalenka led 5-2 and missed a set point as Gauff held firm and went on a four-game roll to take a 6-5 lead. Gauff also couldn’t serve it out, with Sabalenka’s booming returns continuing to cause her trouble.
In the tiebreaker, Sabalenka raced to 5-1. Chants of “Coco, Coco” went up around Rod Laver Arena but they didn't help Gauff.
Almost a half-hour after her first set point, Sabalenka got five more. She clinched on the second of those with a big serve out wide.
Gauff was able to win points on only three of her 17 second serves in the first set, and that made her push harder and led to double-faults.
The second set was tight, until Sabalenka got a service break in the ninth game.
She missed her first match point when Gauff saved with a forehand winner to end a 12-shot rally.
An ace down the middle earned a second match point and Sabalenka clinched it after 1 hour, 42 minutes.
In doubles, 43-year-old Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden advanced to their second consecutive Grand Slam men’s final by beating Zhang Zhizhen and Tomas Machac 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7).
Tournament officials said Bopanna and Ebden, at a combined age of 79 years, will become the oldest No. 1 pairing in tennis history after the tournament.
Bopanna and Ebden, ranked second in men’s doubles, lost to Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the US Open final last September.
In Saturday’s final, they’ll play Italian pair Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori.

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Keys Upsets 2-Time Champion Sabalenka in Women’s Final for 1st Grand Slam Title

USA's Madison Keys celebrates with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after victory against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles final match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2025. (AFP)
USA's Madison Keys celebrates with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after victory against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles final match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2025. (AFP)
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Keys Upsets 2-Time Champion Sabalenka in Women’s Final for 1st Grand Slam Title

USA's Madison Keys celebrates with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after victory against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles final match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2025. (AFP)
USA's Madison Keys celebrates with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup after victory against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's singles final match on day fourteen of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 25, 2025. (AFP)

Madison Keys of the United States upset two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final on Saturday night to collect her first Grand Slam title at age 29.

By adding this win over the No. 1-ranked Sabalenka to an elimination of No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals on Thursday — saving a match point along the way — Keys is the first woman since Serena Williams in 2005 to defeat both of the WTA’s top two players at Melbourne Park.

Keys, ranked 14th and seeded 19th, was playing in her second major final after being the runner-up at the 2017 US Open.

She prevented Sabalenka from earning what would have been her third women’s trophy in a row at the Australian Open — something last accomplished by Martina Hingis from 1997-99 — and her fourth major title overall.

When it ended, Keys covered her face with her hands, then raised her arms. Soon, she was hugging her husband, Bjorn Fratangelo — who has been her coach since 2023 — and other members of her team, before sitting on her sideline bench and laughing.

Sabalenka chucked her racket afterward, then covered her head with a white towel.

The men’s final is Sunday, with defending champion Jannik Sinner against Alexander Zverev. Sinner is seeded No. 1, Zverev No. 2.

Sinner eliminated American Ben Shelton in the semifinals, while Zverev advanced when 24-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic stopped playing because of an injury.

Keys is the oldest woman to become a first-time major champion since Flavia Pennetta was 33 at the 2015 US Open. This was the 46th Slam appearance for Keys, which ranks as the third-most major tournaments before winning a trophy in the Open era, behind only Pennetta’s 49 and Marion Bartoli’s 47 when she won Wimbledon in 2013.

It was the more accomplished Sabalenka who was shakier at the outset. Keys broke three times in the first set, helped in part by Sabalenka’s four double-faults and 13 total unforced errors.

Don’t for a moment think this was merely an instance of Sabalenka being her own undoing.

Keys certainly had a lot to do with the way things were going, too. She compiled an 11-4 edge in winners in that first set, managing to out-hit the big-hitting Sabalenka repeatedly from the baseline.

For a stretch, it seemed as though every shot off the strings of Keys’ racket — the one she switched to ahead of this season to protect her oft-injured right shoulder and to make it easier to control her considerable power — was landing precisely where she wanted.

Near a corner. On a line. Out of Sabalenka’s reach.

Also important was the way Keys, whose left thigh was taped for the match, covered every part of the court, racing to get to balls and send them back over the net with intent. On one terrific defensive sequence, she sprinted for a forehand that drew a forehand into the net from Sabalenka, capping a break for a 4-1 lead.

Never one to hide her emotions during a match, Sabalenka frequently displayed frustration while trailing on the scoreboard, kicking a ball after netting a volley, dropping her racket after missing an overhead, slapping her leg after an errant forehand.

Sabalenka took a trip to the locker room before the second set, and whether that helped clear her head or slowed Keys’ momentum — or both — the final’s complexion soon changed. Keys’ first-serve percentage dipped from 86% in the first set to 59% in the second. Sabalenka raised her winner total to 13 in the second set and began accumulating, and converting, break points.

When she sent a backhand down the line to force an error by Keys for a break and a 2-1 lead in the second, Sabalenka shook her left fist and gritted her teeth as she walked to the sideline.

When she broke again to go up 4-1, Sabalenka marked the occasion with a long and loud scream while looking in the direction of her team.

By the time the last set arrived, the action was tight and tense, without so much as a single break point until its final game, when Keys came through with one last forehand winner.