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Madison Keys stuns Iga Swiatek, reaches Australian Open final
Madison Keys. Mike Frey-Imagn Images

Madison Keys stuns Iga Swiatek, reaches Australian Open final

By Sai Mohan  |  Last updated Jan 23, 2025 9:14 AM ET

The best feel-good sports story of 2025 just got sweeter.

Madison Keys — who nearly retired from tennis in 2024 — continued her Cinderella-like run to start the new year by reaching the final of the 2025 Australian Open on Thursday. 

Entering the match, the American was the overwhelming underdog against World No. 2 Iga Swiatek, who lost only 14 games (and no sets) en route to the semifinal and looked like a lock to reach the final.

Keys, though, never doubted herself for a single minute. After losing the first set, 5-7, she dominated the second set, 6-1 and was up a break in the third. Swiatek then went on a run and had a match point up 6-5 in the deciding set. However, Keys kept fighting to stay alive, backed by a boisterous Melbourne crowd firmly in her corner. 

Down 6-4 in the tiebreak, Keys again kept her composure and stormed back to tie the score at 8-8 with an ace. Swiatek would then mistime back-to-back forehand shots, possibly choking under the bright lights, to give Keys the tiebreak and the improbable victory.

After her clutch performance, Keys said she "blacked out" down match point and kept "running around" the court while hoping to stay alive. 

The analysts at Rod Laver Arena called the match, which lasted two hours and 35 minutes, the best women's grand slam match they had seen in years. It's hard to argue with that assessment.  

By reaching the finals of a major for the first time since the 2017 U.S. Open, Keys now owns the record for the longest gap between a player's first two slam finals. The stat is a testament to the longevity of the journeywoman Keys, who broke into the WTA Tour as a 14-year-old in 2009.

Keys will again try to defy the odds when she faces World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's final. A win would make her the first American to win a major since Coco Gauff's 2023 U.S. Open triumph.

The 29-year-old knows the odds are stacked against her, but she plans to leave it all out on the court and live with the result. Keys made similar comments ahead of the semifinal, noting that she wanted to leave with her "head held high" regardless of the outcome against Swiatek.

The veteran American could have done that even with a loss. She gave tennis fans an absolute treat on Thursday and further established her legacy as one of the best of her generation. 

An elusive major title on Saturday will be the icing on the cake. 

Sai Mohan
Muck Rack

A veteran sportswriter based in Portugal, Sai covers the NBA for Yardbarker and a few local news outlets. He had the honor of covering sporting events across four different continents as a newspaper reporter. Some of his all-time favorite athletes include Mike Tyson, Larry Bird, Luís Figo, Ayrton Senna and Steffi Graf.

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