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Madison Keys’ night started terrific and ended in tears.
Meanwhile, Aryna Sabalenka’s began terribly and ended with a magic comeback that shocked even her en route to a berth in the U.S. Open final.
Sabalenka overcame her toughest test of this tournament, and her own frayed emotions, storming back for an 0-6, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (10-5) come-from-behind semifinal victory over the American Keys at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“Yeah, it was crazy,” Sabalenka said. “I was all over the place. I was just, like, what can I do? She’s playing unbelievable, just crushing everything. I’m not able to do anything. I had zero control in the match.
“I was just keep telling myself ‘OK, there’s going to be nights like this; somebody’s going to just play their best tennis. You just have to keep trying, keep staying there, and keep pushing it. Maybe you’ll be able to turn around this game.’ Lucky me, somehow magically, I don’t know how I was able to turn around this game.”
It dashed hopes of an All-American women’s final, Sabalenka advancing to play red-hot Coco Gauff.
And showing she has a chin.
After a staggeringly-easy first set when Keys ‘bageled’ the second-ranked Sabalenka, Keys seemed destined to stroll into the first all-U.S. final in here since her 2017 loss to Sloane Stephens.
But dropping the second set in a 7-1 tiebreaker and the third in a 10-5 tiebreaker kept her from that date with destiny.
“I think everyone at the start of the tournament would obviously be really, really excited to be in the semis. Right now it sucks,” Keys said. “But yeah, I just think being able to take this and turn it to a positive is really possible. Yeah, there is still a lot to be proud of and still tons of tennis to play this season.”
But Keys’ red eyes and raw emotions showed it might take a while until she was ready for that, tearing up and having her press conference cut short.
It was, in truth, a devastating defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
Early on, Keys had Sabalenka on the back foot. After a Keys break, Sabalenka had smashed her racket, tried to throw it up at her box, failed and watched it crash back down to the court. It was indicative of how her night was going – until suddenly she turned it around.
Madison Keys. Getty Images
With Keys up a break in the third and leading 4-2, Sabalenka broke back and evened the set.
It stayed level, with Sabalenka hitting aces No. 11 and 12 — her most of this U.S. Open — to hold at love and force a tiebreaker.
Sabalenka won this tiebreaker 10-5 — even though she mistakenly and hilariously thought it was over at 7-3.
“Honestly, I was thinking that if I’m going to lose this semifinal, I’ll be struggling with sleeping for I don’t know how many days, and I was just like, I don’t want this to happen. I need some sleep, and I need to be fine,” said Sabalenka, who gushed over Gauff.
“She’s moving really well. She’s hungry. She [has] nothing to lose. She knows that crowd is going to support her. I think that’s what makes her a really difficult opponent.”
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