MELBOURNE, Australia — In the end, after all the work was done, it was a simple gesture by Madison Keys that said so much.
When she finally finished off her upset of No. 2 Iga Swiatek, 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (10-8), in a high-intensity, high-quality Australian Open semifinal Thursday night, saving a match point along the way, the 29-year-old American crouched on the court and placed a hand on her white hat.
She had a hard time believing it all. Her comeback. What she called an “extra-dramatic finish.” The victory over a five-time Grand Slam champion who had been on the most dominant run in the women’s singles bracket at Melbourne Park in a dozen years.
And now a chance for Keys to play in her second Grand Slam final, a long wait after being the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up.
“I’m still trying to catch up to everything that’s happening,” said the 19th-seeded Keys, who will face No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time reigning champion, with the trophy on the line Saturday. “I felt like I was just fighting to stay in it. … It was so up and down, and so many big points.”