In 2015, Madison Keys announced herself as a major talent by reaching the Australian Open semifinals as a 19-year-old. Ten years later, the American has become a major champion after defeating No.1 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 in the Australian Open final to claim her first Grand Slam trophy.

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The two-time defending champion Sabalenka had come into the final on a 20-match winning streak at Melbourne Park and with an 11-0 unbeaten record in 2025 after lifting the Brisbane trophy three weeks ago. She had been aiming to become the first woman to seal a hat trick of Australian Open titles since Martina Hingis in 1997-99, and owned a 4-1 head-to-head lead over No.19 seed Keys -- including a 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6[5] heartbreaker in the 2023 US Open semifinals.

Keys had also lost her only previous Grand Slam final 6-3, 6-0 to Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open. Yet, having come into 2025 wielding a brand new Yonex racquet and an altered service motion, the 29-year-old delivered a stirring performance. Keys had already become the player with the longest gap between their first two Slam finals in the Open Era, and her victory makes her the fourth oldest first-time Slam champion in the Open Era.

Photos: All the players in the Open Era to win a major after facing match point

Lightning start, lightning finish: Keys had spoken after her semifinal win that in her previous Grand Slam final she had been so "consumed with being nervous" that she had been unable to give herself a chance to play her game. That match, she said, had been on her mind "endlessly" for the past eight years.

As if determined to exorcise that memory, Keys roared out of the blocks with a blistering start to her second final. She leaped out to 5-1 in a blaze of deadly accurate winners off both wings into the corners -- but it wasn't just her power that was on song. Keys' defense has been superb all fortnight, and it garnered her the crucial double break for 4-1 as well as remarkable drop shot at full stretch in the next game.

Keys was unable to take her first set point at 5-2, and threw in her first error-strewn game of the match to lose serve at 5-3. But she shook off that setback to seal her second set point by nailing a backhand winner down the line.

Sabalenka has not lost a Grand Slam match in straight sets since the 2020 US Open (to Victoria Azarenka), and the World No.1 fought back in her trademark manner. She had been beset by ill-timed double faults in the first set -- two in the opening game, another to go down break point at 3-1 and another to go down set point. In the second set, she committed just one and raised her first serve percentage from 64% to 83%.

The 26-year-old has spoken about how important augmenting her power with variety has been to her game, and that was also on show in the second set as she repeatedly kept Keys off-balance with a succession of drop shots.

The stage was set for a thrilling third set, and both players stepped up to the plate to deliver. Spectacular shots abounded -- a high-angled backhand volley from Keys that left both players laughing, a phenomenal backhand at full stretch from Sabalenka -- but neither had a real opportunity to make a breakthrough. For the first 11 games, neither faced a break point.

The title came down to the last game. Keys struck two strong returns to build a 0-30 lead. She reached championship point after coming out on top of a high-octane baseline exchange. And she converted her second by launching into a powerful forehand -- her 29th and most important winner of the night.

Keys on stepping up in the last game: For Keys, raising her level at the end of the match had been a question of necessity.

"I almost felt like I was trying to beat her to it," she told the press. "If I wasn't going to go for it, I knew she was going to. It really just pushed me to kind of thread the needle a little bit more. I just kept telling myself, 'Be brave, go for it, just kind of lay it all out on the line.' At that point, no matter what happens, if I do that, then I can be proud of myself. It just made it a little bit easier."

Keys on problem-solving through tough matches: While the transformation in Keys' on-court results has been most evident this season, it's been a gradual process over the past year for her.

"Even with the injuries and some tough losses, I just kind of felt like I was kind of 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 a lot better.

"In the past, I felt like sometimes during matches, especially when things started to go awry, I was almost, like, not in my own body and I was kind of 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 kind of just be more in the moment and take each point by point instead of panicking and getting a little bit too broad."

Keys put that into practice by coming through five three-setters this fortnight: against Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round, Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals and then the No.2-No.1 double of Swiatek and Sabalenka. All those battles sharpened her round by round.

"There was a confidence in maybe not playing matches amazingly from start to finish and having some dips here and there," she said. "But being able to kind of 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 just slowly started continuing to build the confidence. I never really got ahead of myself in each round. I never once thought about the next round until I was actually there."

As careful as Keys was not to think ahead, her semifinal victory over Swiatek was still a momentous one.

"I think winning that match the other night against Iga was really kind of a big hurdle," Keys said. "I always believed that I could do it, but to do it that way, I think really I thought to myself after the match that I can absolutely win on Saturday."