Australian Open champion Madison Keys. Australian Open champion Madison Keys. Newly-crowned Australian Open champion Madison Keys revealed her semi-final win over Iga Swiatek convinced her she could win the tournament. (More Sports News)rich9
Keys beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-3 2-6 7-5 in the final, having also been taken to three sets by Swiatek on Thursday – ultimately winning the deciding tie-break 10-8 – and the 29-year-old says overcoming that hurdle made her belief.
"I think winning that match the other night against Iga was really kind of a big hurdle where I felt like... I always believed that I could do it, but to do it that way, I thought to myself after the match that I can absolutely win on Saturday," she said.
Keys did not have it all her own way against Swiatek, having saved match point before eventually getting the victory.
gcash88That turnaround could, in part, be credited to a newfound belief that had been instilled by her team.
"Even with the injuries and some tough losses, I just felt like I was starting to find myself a little bit more," she said.
"I was starting to be a little bit more clear-headed and present on court. I felt like I was starting to get better at problem-solving on court in the moment.
Chen Benhai gave the hosts the lead with a fine field goal in the first quarter following an enterprising team move. But the highlight of the match was Chao Jieming's sensational solo effort in the second quarter.
Ahmad Nadeem, standing right on the left edge of the goal mouth, found the ball from inside the D just in the sixth minute of the opening whistle. He was in the perfect position to execute a slight deflection into the Indian goal and that is what he did to push Pakistan ahead in the match.
"In the past,bl777 official I felt like sometimes during matches, especially when things started to go awry, I was almost not in my own body and I was looking down at myself. I felt like I couldn't connect my brain to my body.
"I felt like last year I started being able to be more in the moment and take each point by point, instead of panicking and getting a little bit too broad.
"I felt like I started playing some good tennis and I started figuring things out when I wasn't playing great.
"Then through the off-season, I just put in a lot of hard work. I started to see that things were going more the way that I wanted. I just feel like it's one of those things that slowly keeps building. All of a sudden you're winning a bunch of matches in Adelaide. Then you're coming in here."
1 - Madison Keys is the first player to win a Women’s Singles Grand Slam title after having saved a match point en route since Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros 2024 and the first at the Australian Open since Naomi Osaka in 2021. Champion. #AO2025 | @AustralianOpen @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/9EZpJPYZkG
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) January 25, 2025In winning the title, and beating both Swiatek and Sabalenka en route to doing so, Keys became the first player to defeat the WTA's top two players in the semi-final and final at a grand slam since Maria Sharapova at the 2006 US Open.
But she says taking things one game at a time was the necessary approach to take.
"I really felt like going into each match that if I could just try to go out, play how I wanted to play, I was really just going to give myself the opportunity to try to win," she said.
"I felt like not stressing about things that I couldn't control, I was able to play a little bit more freely. I think there was confidence in maybe not playing matches amazingly from start to finish and having some dips here and there.
"I was able to end on a really high note each time and figure out how to get back in matches or how to close out a match really well.
"I think part of it was that I never really got ahead of myself in each round. I never once thought about the next round until I was actually there."rich9
