By james art 
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — When Madison Keys walked into Rod Laver Arena at 7:37 p.m. on Saturday night before the Australian Open final, she walked right past the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup, the silver trophy that goes to the women’s champion and is placed on a pedestal near the court entrance.
The keys didn’t break. He didn’t stop staring. That piece of hardware was then moved near the net for the pre-match coin toss, as close as possible to where the American was standing. Close enough to touch. Close enough to feel real. Also right there was Aryna Sabalenka, the women’s No. 1 seed and two-time defending champion at Melbourne Park, who wasn’t going to make things easy on this cool, windy evening.
Exactly 2 1/2 hours — and a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory over Sabalenka — later, there was Keys, smiling his biggest smile as he held that piece of hardware with both hands, champion from the Grand Slam for the first time at the age of 29. It was Keys’ second chance to play for a major title: the first ended in a one-sided loss at the 2017 US Open, an experience that taught her to play through nerves.
“I’ve wanted this for so long,” said Keys, who was born in Illinois and is now based in Florida, “and I’ve been to another Grand Slam final and it didn’t work out for me and I don’t know if I’d be back in that position .”
She is the oldest woman to win a Slam for the first time since Flavia Pennetta was 33 at the 2015 US Open. It was Keys’ 46th Slam appearance, the third-most before winning a major, trailing only Pennetta’s 49 and Marion Bartoli’s 47 when she won Wimbledon in 2013.
Keyes didn’t take the easy road either.
That three-set win was preceded by one against No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals, saving a match point along the way. Since Serena Williams in 2005 no player has beaten the WTA’s top two women at Melbourne Park.
“Madison: Wow, what a tournament,” Sabalenka said during the on-court ceremony, in which she also joked with her entourage that the defeat was their fault.
“Enjoy the holiday,” she told Keyes. “Enjoy the really fun part.”
Keys, ranked 14th and seeded 19th, prevented Sabalenka from winning what would have been her third consecutive Australian Open women’s title – something last achieved by Martina Hingis from 1997-99 Mr. – and her fourth major title overall.
When he finished, Keys covered his face with his hands, then raised his hands. Soon she was hugging her husband Bjorn Fratangelo — who has been her coach since 2023. — and other members of his team before sitting on his side bench and laughing.
Sabalenka then threw her racket, then covered her head with a white cloth.
“It just wasn’t my day,” Sabalenka said.
Keys broke three times in the first set, helped in part by Sabalenka’s four double faults and a total of 13 unforced errors.
Don’t think for a moment that this is just an example of Sabalenka being her own undoing.
Keyes definitely had a lot to do with the way things went. She amassed an 11-4 advantage in winners in the first set, managing to defeat the repeatedly successful Sabalenka.
Overall, it looked like every shot coming off the strings of Keys’ racquet — the one she switched to before this season, at Fratangello’s insistence, to protect her oft-injured right shoulder and make it easier to control her considerable power — was landing squarely. where he wanted.
Near a corner. On line. Out of the reach of Sabalenka, 26, from Belarus.
Equally important was the way Keys, whose left hip was taped up for the match, covered every part of the court, racing to get to the balls and send them back over the net with intent. In a great defensive sequence, she sprinted for a forehand that drew a forehand into the net from Sabalenka, capping a break for a 4-1 lead.
Never one to hide her emotions during a match, Sabalenka often showed frustration as she trailed on the scoreboard, kicking a ball after a volley, dropping her racquet after an overhead miss, hitting her leg after a forehand misfire.
Sabalenka went to the locker room before the second set, and whether it helped clear her head or slowed Keys’ momentum — or both — the finish soon changed. Keys’ first serve percentage dropped from 86% in the first set to 59% in the second. Sabalenka raised her total to 13 in the second set and began to accumulate and use break points.
When she sent a backhand down the line to prompt a break error from Keys and a 2-1 lead in the second, Sabalenka pumped her left fist and gritted her teeth as she walked to the sideline.
The action in the third set was tight and tense with not a single break point until the final game when Keys managed a last-ditch forehand winner.
Here’s how close it was: Keys won by just one point over Sabalenka, 92-91. Both finished with 29 winners.
Kiss had to wait, yes, but the moment he longed for had arrived.
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Howard Fendrich has been an AP tennis writer since 2002. Find his stories here: More AP Tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
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