By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Madison Keys said the personal work she had put in to develop a bolder approach to her game paid dividends on Thursday, after the American 19th seed saved a match point to stun Iga Swiatek and set up an Australian Open final against Aryna Sabalenka.
The 29-year-old clinched a famous 5-7 6-1 7-6(8) win over Swiatek but was a point away from her fourth semi-final exit at Melbourne Park when the Polish second seed was serving at 6-5 in the deciding set.
Keys turned the match around from there and said her semi-final defeat by Sabalenka in the U.S. Open two years ago taught her how to take her chances and not have regrets.
“I’ve been doing a lot of personal work with all of that. One of the big things, after I lost to Aryna at the U.S. Open, I felt like I tried to play safe and I wasn’t playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad,” Keys told reporters.
“I felt like if I can go out and do what I want to do and really just be uncomfortable at times and go for it and play the way I play my best tennis, and I lose, then I can walk away and say, ‘Okay, I did my best, she beat me, that’s fine’.
“I didn’t want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought ‘Man, I should have gone for it.’ I didn’t want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there.”
Swiatek’s defeat meant holder Sabalenka, who is aiming for a ‘threepeat’, will leave the Australian Open as world number one and Keys expects a tough test in her bid to seal a second win over the Belarusian in their sixth meeting on Saturday.
“What’s really impressive is her mentality. Her ability to always go for it, no matter what the score is, is impressive,” former U.S. Open runner-up Keys said of the reigning New York champion.
“She plays such fearless tennis. She has the ability to play so well that way. It’s unique.
“Not only is that impressive on her side, but it puts a bit more pressure on opponents where you know you’re always going to have to try to win the point because she’s never going to just play passive and give you an easy point.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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