MADISON Keys is the new Queen of Melbourne Park, after she defeated two time reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 to win the Women’s Singles title at the 2025 Australian Open.

The win was also her first ever Grand Slam title, achieving the goal on her second go in a Grand Slam singles final. The win also sees Keys jump to number seven in the world, which equals her career high.

“I’ve wanted this for so long,” an overjoyed Keys said post match. “I made my very first Grand Slam semifinal here in Melbourne, so to now have won my first Grand Slam in the same place means the absolute world to me.”

Keys also emotionally thanked her team for always believing in her.

“I have been in one other Grand Slam final and it did not go my way and I didn’t know if I was ever going to be able to get back to this position to try to win a trophy again and my team believed in me every step of the way. They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

It was a match of an interesting dichotomy of the brute power of Sabalenka against the poise and gentler touch of Keys, with the variety in Keys’ shots ultimately proving decisive.

Keys finished the match with six aces compared to Sabalenka’s mere three. She also did not serve a single double fault, whereas Sabalenka served five of them. Keys also won nine percent more points off her first serve than Sabalenka did.

In ways the match was also really even, and that showed in the final set where there was only one game broken in the entire set, and that was the final game of the set which Keys claimed to take the set and title.

In a match where both players finished with 29 winners, Keys finished with only two less unforced errors and both players did not do particularly well when it came to winning break points. Keys only capitalised on four of her nine chances, while Sabalenka capitalised on three of her eight chances.

It has been a big tournament for Keys, who is now the first women’s singles players to defeat both the top seeds at a major since Svetlana Kuznetsova back in 2009. It is also the continuation of a big month for the American, who also won the Adelaide International earlier in the month.