
Courtesy: Google
On Thursday, January 23, American Madison Keys saved a match point in the third and deciding set, to defeat Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 in the second semi-final of the Australian Open at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne. Madison Keys will be taking on two-time defending champion and top seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the final after she got the better of her close friend and Spanish player Paula Badosa in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in the first semi-final earlier today.
The first set between Madison Keys and Iga Swiatek was a humdinger with both players breaking each other twice on their first couple of serves in the match. Swiatek broke the serve of Keys once again, to put herself in prime position to serve out the first set before being broken for the third time, but ultimately the fourth break of serve helped the Polish tennis player to seal it 7-5.
Madison Keys will be playing second Grand Slam final of her career in two days' time
In the second set, Iga Swiatek had her serve broken four times out of four before losing the set 1-6 to Madison Keys in a tame fashion. The third and deciding set saw both Swiatek and Keys hold their serve for the five consecutive games before the American saved a match point on her opponents’ serve at 30-40, and then, she managed to force a 10-point tie-breaker.
The tie-breaker had ebbs and flows right throughout as Iga Swiatek was poised to run away with it at one stage with a 7-5 scoreline before Madison Keys came back into it. The American won the four out of last five points, to take the tie-breaker 10-8, which helped her to seal the set and the match against the second seed, and booking her place in a Grand Slam for the second time in her career.
Her opponent in the Australian Open final this year will be Aryna Sabalenka, who is aiming to win the coveted title for the third consecutive time in her career.