Australian Open 2025: Madison Keys Sees Off Iga Swiatek in Thriller to Reach Her First Melbourne Final

Madison Keys knocked out second seed Iga Swiatek to reach her first Australian Open final following a thrilling contest in women's singles semi-final at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Thursday (January 23).

American Keys, the 19th seed, will meet double defending champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's decider after seeing off the Pole Swiatek in a three-set thriller by a scoreline of 5-7 6-1 7-6(8) in 2 hours and 35 minutes.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek had not dropped her serve since the first round but was broken eight times by Keys, who saved a match point on her way to edging a see-sawing, marathon battle. Keys in fact had gone a set down before bouncing back in style to force the decider.

The decider then went to a tie-break, which Swiatek almost sealed, but the fighting American retained her winning streak by holding on to see off the Pole. It was the first time ever an Australian Open semi-final had been decided by a third-set 10-point tiebreak.

Earlier, Sabalenka put her close friendship with 11th seed Paula Badosa of Spain aside to stay on track for a 26-year first. The Belarusian world number one romped home 6-4, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.

While the first semi-final was straighforward, the second wasn't as Keys flew out of the blocks and broke Swiatek in the opening game, signalling the start of a roller coaster first set in which both players struggled for control.

Three breaks each were exchanged before Swiatek finally edged it on her second set point after 49 minutes. The world number two, however, was far from convincing, and the second set saw a massive turnaround.

Keys surged back in sizzling fashion, breaking Swiatek four times, unleashing three huge aces in one game, as she took it to a deciding third set where she saved a match point before finally getting over the line.

With this result, Keys, who won the Adelaide International earlier this month, extended her winning streak to 11, longest winning streak in her career, and is now just one win away from winning her first-ever grand slam title. This victory also cut short Swiatek's advantage to 4-2 in their head to head battles.