Australian Open:

Automatically saved draft

Paula Badosa and Aryna Sabalenka(Bild: Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and, surprisingly, the American Madison Keys have reached the final of the Australian Open. Sabalenka had little trouble against Spain's Paula Badosa 6:4, 6:2 on Thursday, the world number one will be aiming for her third Melbourne win in a row on Saturday. 

The number 19 seed Keys defeated the favored Polish player Iga Swiatek 5:7,6:1,7:6(10:8) after fending off a match point and reached the final of the major tournament for the first time.

Here are the statistics of the match:

Defending champion Sabalenka gave her good friend Badosa no chance with a powerful game, the 26-year-old world number one won after 86 minutes. "It's particularly tough against a friend. I'm sure she'll hate me for the next few hours, the whole day. That's okay, I can take it," said Sabalenka. "If she sees this: I promise we'll go shopping and I'll pay for anything she wants." Badosa can still be satisfied, as she was worried about continuing her career a year ago due to back problems. Since the middle of pre-season, things have been looking up for the 27-year-old.

Paula Badosa(Bild: AFP or licensors)

Swiatek lost the thread after a good start
Swiatek, seeded number two, let a 5:2 lead slip against Keys in the Rod Laver Arena, but still won the first set. In the second, however, the favored Polish player hardly managed anything. The world number two also lost the deciding set after a tough battle in the match tie-break. Swiatek, who had not lost a set in five matches in the tournament so far and had only dropped a total of 14 games, had a match point at 6:5. Keys fended it off and made the break.

Madison Keys(Bild: Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

The 29-year-old converted her first match point in the match tiebreak after 2:37 hours and advanced to her second major final after the 2017 US Open. She had already failed twice in the semi-finals in Melbourne. Her record against Sabalenka is clearly negative at 1:4.

Women's semi-final:

Aryna Sabalenka (BLR-1) - Paula Badosa (ESP-11) 6:4,6:2

Iga Swiatek (POL-2) - Madison Keys (USA-19) 5:7,6:1,7:6(10:8)

Final (Saturday): Sabalenka - Keys

Lilli Tagger(Bild: zVg)

Juniors - Quarterfinals:

Emerson Jones (AUS-1) - Lilli Tagger (AUT) 4:6,6:2,6:2

Lilli Tagger from East Tyrol was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the junior competition at the Australian Tennis Open by top seed Emerson Jones. The 16-year-old lost 6:4, 2:6, 2:6 to the Australian of the same age on Thursday.