Madison Keys Has Emotional Moment After Upsetting Iga Swiatek in Australian Open Semi

She will face reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka in this weekend's final.
Madison Keys celebrates winning a match at the 2025 Australian Open.
Madison Keys celebrates winning a match at the 2025 Australian Open. / Mike Frey-Imagn Images

American tennis star Madison Keys completed a huge comeback victory over World No. 2 Iga Swiatek in Thursday's Australian Open semifinal to set up a final matchup vs. World No. 1 and reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka.

Swiatek had multiple match points, but Keys saved them all and eventually won 5-7, 6-1, 7-6. The final set tiebreak score was 10-8 as Keys won four of the final five points to capture the victory.

The 29-year-old has struggled to have success in major tournaments since her U.S. Open final appearance in 2017. So, to reach her first Australian Open final was understandably an emotional moment for her. After shaking Swiatek's and the umpire's hands, Keys crouched down on the court and cried.

"I'm still trying to catch up to everything that's happening," Keys said after the match. "I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. ... It was so up and down and so many big points. ... I felt like I blacked out there at some point and was out there running around."

Keys has had an exciting recent couple of months. She married her longtime boyfriend, and now coach, Bjorn Fratangelo in November, then she captured the Adelaide International title before the Australian Open.

Keys and Sabalenka will face off on Saturday for the trophy.


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Madison Williams
MADISON WILLIAMS

Madison Williams is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated, where she specializes in tennis but covers a wide range of sports from a national perspective. Before joining SI in 2022, Williams worked at The Sporting News. Having graduated from Augustana College, she completed a master’s in sports media at Northwestern University. She is a dog mom and an avid reader.