American Madison Keys ousts Iga Swiatek, heads to Australian Open finale

Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Madison Keys dropped her first set, fought off match point in the third and rallied through a tight tie breaker to beat Iga Swiatek in a gritty Australian Open semifinal that started Thursday and ended Friday in Melbourne.

The American earned the right to battle top-ranked Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the women's singles final Saturday at Melbourne Park.

Power will meet power in that match between the two-time defending Australian Open champion and Keys, who is searching for her first Grand Slam crown.

"That match was such high level," Keys said of her 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) triumph at Rod Laver Arena. "She played so well. I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. I really kinda ran with the second and the third was just a battle.

"To be able to be standing here to be in the finals is absolutely amazing."

Keys used her strong serve to generate seven aces, compared to none for her Polish counterpart. The No. 14 player in the WTA rankings also fired 36 winners and 41 unforced errors. She converted 8 of 17 break point chances.

Her normally ultra-strategic, second-ranked foe totaled 22 winners and 40 unforced errors. Swiatek converted 6 of 16 break points.

"At the end, we were both battling some nerves," Keys said. "Really just pushing each other. It just became who could get that final point and who could be a little bit better than the other one. I'm happy it was me."

The semifinal was demanding from the start, with Keys and Swiatek breaking each other through the first four games. Swiatek broke Keys for a third time in the sixth game and held for a 5-2 lead.

Keys surged late, but was broken again for set point. Despite the set loss, she used her late momentum to storm back into the match.

Keys broke each of Swiatek's four serves in the second set to tie the semifinal.

Swiatek and Keys each held serve through the first 10 games of the final set. Swiatek broke the American in the 11th game for a 6-5 lead. She then triggered a match point, but Keys earned another break point.

Swiatek then double faulted, resulted in the tiebreaker. Swiatek jumped ahead 3-1, but Keys rallied once again.

She went on to hit a backhand return to Swiatek on the final point of the match. Swiatek responded by overhitting a forehand past the baseline, rewarding Keys with match point.

"Even though I lost the first set, I felt like I was playing some better tennis at the end of it," Keys said. "I felt like I actually had a little bit of momentum going into the second set.

"To be able to kind of run with that second set and really just be able to settle was really nice. In the third set, it was just so up and down and there were so many big points and break point chances that either one of us got.

"Just to be able to stay in it and keep fighting. Then a 10-point tie breaker for an extra-dramatic finish."

Earlier Thursday, Sabalenka needed just 86 minutes to sweep No. 1 Paula Badosa of Spain in straight sets. Sabalenka totaled 32 winners and converted 4 of 9 break point opportunities. Badosa totaled 11 winners and converted one break point opportunity.

"It was an incredible match," Sabalenka told reporters. "She played incredible tennis. It's always tough facing your friend. I'm super happy to see her playing at her best level. I told her to just stay here."

Sabalenka will meet Keys in the women's singles at 3:30 a.m. EST Saturday on ESPN.

"Definitely some big hitting is going to happen, not a whole lot of long points," Keys said of Sabalenka. "She is going for her third Aussie Open and I'm excited to get to play her. I'm really excited for the challenge."

On the men's circuit, No. 2 Alexander Zverev of Germany will face No. 7 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the first semifinal Friday. That match will air at 10:30 p.m. Thursday on ESPN.

No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy will battle No. 21 Ben Shelton of the United States in the second men's singles semifinal at 3:30 a.m. Friday on the same network.

The men's finale will be at 3:30 a.m. Sunday on ESPN.

Serena Williams and Andre Agassi were the last Americans to advance to the Australian Open in the same year. They each won titles in 2003.