Aryna Sabalenka broke down in tears under her towel after losing the Australian Open final to Madison Keys. <br /><br />World No. 1 smashed her racket on the ground in frustration after succumbing to the American 3-6, 6-2, 5-7. <br /><br />It denied Sabalenka a third consecutive triumph at the Aussie Open after she won the tournament in 2034 and 2024.<br /><br />The Belarussian had to reach the final the hard way, beating her close friend Paula Badosa in the semi-finals, but could not muster the power to win one of the biggest hitters in the game. <br /><br />After congratulating Keys, Sabalenka covered her face with her towel in front of the 15,000 fans of Road Laver Arena before storming off to her locker room. <br /><br />This was Keys' first Grand Slam final since 2017 and her first Major win, marking a shock against the heavily fancied Sabalenka.<br /><br />Keys, the world No. 19, becomes the fourth-oldest woman to win her first Grand Slam crown at 29. <br /><br />'I have wanted this for so long, I never knew if I'd be in this position again,' said Keys. <br /><br />The 29-year-old admitted she had ‘thought about that match endlessly for the past eight years’ and it was clear there would be no repeat from the first.<br /><br />Rather, it was double-defending champion Sabalenka who started edgily, double-faulting twice in the opening game to concede a break.<br /><br />At 1-3, she double-faulted again to concede break point and Keys chopped back a Sabalenka-esque forehand slice which gripped in the court and bounced too low to handle.<br /><br />In the next game Keys played an exceptional cross-court backhand drop shot, a note of pure poetry amid the heavy metal. Carlos Alcaraz would have been proud of such a shot and it was a weapon that was simply not in the Keys armory a year ago.<br /><br />As coach and husband Bjorn Fratangelo said before the final: ‘Sharpening the axe can get you so far, but sometimes you just need new tools.’ Well, that defensive slice forehand, skimming like a bird above water, was a new tool and that drop shot was another.<br /><br />If Keys needed any bulwark against complacency then could remember the 2023 US Open semi-final when she lost to Sabalenka in a heartbreaker after taking the first set 6-0.<br /><br />What a credit to the two of them that they have been able to combine marital bliss with the tempestuous relationship of coach and player. It could all have gone so wrong; it matters little whether a racket is Wilson or Yonex when your wife buries it in your skull.<br /><br />Sabalenka edged her way back into the set, increasing her ball speed.<br /><br />Serving at 5-3, 30-30, Sabalenka was in the ascendancy. A hold here would have forced Keys to serve for the set having lost three games in a row. But a fourth double fault chose the most inopportune time to arrive and then Keys smoked a backhand down the line to take the set.<br /><br />Sabalenka had at least achieved what Swiatek had failed to do in the second set of the semi-final - she had stopped the bleeding and established a speed bump before the rollicking Keys station wagon.
