PrashantNews
Madison Keys (US) on Saturday won her first grand slam title defeating Belarusian top seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final at Melbourne Park.
The no 19 seed Keys (29) who was the Grand Slam finalist in the US Open in 2017 capitalized on most of the opportunities she got to take points and remained consistent in her approach. Keys on Thursday had defeated the second seed Iga Swiatek. Significantly, Keys kept herself alive with powerful serves and some excellent shots in the third and decisive set to stop Sabalenka from winning her third consecutive title.
Sabelenka made repeated double faults and unforced errors in the first set despite her powerful shots and serves. Keys broke sabalenka’s serve twice in the first set and made less unforced errors. She concentrated on empty spaces for her shots and remained consistent in her play.
Sabelenka had the chance t break keys at 2-5 with two break points and took this game to lessen the lead to 3-5. But Sabalenka continued to make unforced errors like hitting the net thus allowing Keys to grab the first set 6-3.
In the second set, Sabalenka hit back as she started playing better tennis. She came close to break Keys’ serve many times. In the third game Sabalenka broke Keys to take 3-1lead. Sabelenka also made some wonderful drop shots in the second set. She again broke Keys to take 4-1 lead through her powerful forehand shots. Sabalenka continued to dominate in the second set to take it 6-2.
In the decisive third set, both the ladies held their serves and tried to avoid making unforced errors. Both the players were seen playing their best tennis firing shots after shots. After 4-4 in the third set, Keys and Sabalenka continued to play their excellent shots to remain in course for the title. But in the last game, Keys broke again to win the third set 7-5 and also the championship.