American tennis star Madison Keys won the first Grand Slam title of her career, defeating two-time defending winner Aryna Sabalenka in the final of the 2025 Australian Open.
The 29-year-old Keys, seeded 19th, triumphed 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in a thrilling two-hour, two-minute match at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
With this victory, Keys became the first women’s singles player to defeat the world’s top two players at a Grand Slam since Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros in 2009, and the first to do so at the Australian Open since Serena Williams in 2005.
She defeated second-seeded Iga Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam women’s singles champion, in the semifinal, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6.
In the men’s final, Alexander Zverev will take on Jannik Sinner on Sunday.
World number one Sinner scored a dominant 7-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over American Ben Shelton in Friday’s semifinal. It lasted two hours and 36 minutes, with Sinner’s powerful performance on Rod Laver Arena propelling him to the final.
Two-time major champion Sinner made history by becoming the first Italian man to reach back-to-back singles finals at Melbourne Park.
In the other semifinal match, No. 2-ranked Zverev won the first set against Serbian Novak Djokovic 7-6 in a tightly contested battle that lasted one hour and 21 minutes.
However, Djokovic was unable to continue the match due to a left leg injury, allowing the German player to advance to the final.
“Injury is the biggest enemy of a professional athlete,” Djokovic said at a press conference.
“I cannot throw away all the incredible memories and results and achievements that I’ve achieved here over the years just because this year, I retired in the semifinals,” the former world No. 1 added. (Anadolu)
