Madison Keys of Rock Island, Illinois is a grand slam singles champion for the first time. Two months after getting married to her coach, Bjorn Fratangelo of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Keys defeated world number one and two-time reigning Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
One major reason Keys took the lead after the first set came down to double faults. Sabalenka had four of them, and seemed to struggle with her serve like we saw from her over two years ago.
What we saw from Keys in her finals win over Sabalenka, and her semifinals win over Iga Swiatek of Poland, was exceptional power. This was quite frankly something we have never seen from Keys this consistent before. Yes, there have been times that Keys has been able to out power her opponent, but not with the degree of regularity and when facing the top two players in the world.
Keys also needs to be praised for her resiliency. This was the fifth time over the last two weeks that Keys split the first two sets and won the third set. She also beat Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania 7-6, 2-6, 7-5 in the second round, 2022 Wimbledon champion and world number six Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the fourth round, three-time grand slam semifinalist Elena Svitolina of Ukraine 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals, and five-time grand slam champion Iga Swiatek of Poland, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 in the semifinals.
At the end of the day, the serve was the difference and gave Keys the necessary confidence to win. Keys had six aces and zero double faults, while Sabalenka had three aces and five double faults.
