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US Open finalists Keys, Stephens commiserated over injuries

Madison Keys, of the United States, reacts after defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, of the United States, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)
Madison Keys, of the United States, reacts after defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, of the United States, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger) Madison Keys, of the United States, reacts after defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, of the United States, during the semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis tournament, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

By Associated Press 4 min read

NEW YORK (AP) – When the Grand Slam season that ends this weekend began at the Australian Open back in January, neither Madison Keys nor Sloane Stephens was anywhere near being ready to play a tennis match.

Keys had just started hitting balls, a few months after surgery on her left wrist that she would need another procedure on in June. Stephens was sitting on a couch, unable to move around in the days after an operation on her left foot.

Look at them now. The two friends who traded texts and phone calls, commiserating while recuperating, will face each other Saturday in the first all-American U.S. Open final in 15 years.

Each is making her debut in a Grand Slam title match.

“I was actually just laughing and thinking, ‘Who would have thought in Australia that Sloane and I would be the finalists at the U.S. Open? Neither one of us were playing at the time, both just having surgeries,” the 15th-seeded Keys said after her thoroughly dominating 6-1, 6-2 victory over CoCo Vandeweghe in the semifinals Thursday night.