“Good things come to those who wait” – Pam Shriver’s reaction to Madison Keys’ title triumph at the 2025 AO was spot on. If we take a look at Keys’s tennis journey, she made her debut way back in 2009 but had to wait eight years to find substantial success on the Grand Slam stage before she reached the final of the 2017 US Open. However, it was to no avail, as Stephens eventually shattered her dreams in front of the home crowd. The AO 2025 final was, however, Keys’s moment under the sun. The 30-year-old carried the momentum to the Indian Wells and extended her winning streak to 16 matches, but then she bumped into Sabalenka again. And well, the less said about the result, the better. Simply put – a bagel and a breadstick were handed to the American. But does it outshine her recent triumphs?

Aryna Sabalenka ended Madison Keys’ incredible winning streak by defeating her by a 6-0,6-1 margin in the SF of the Indian Wells Open. It took the world number one just 51 minutes to seal the deal against the in-form American. Before this match, Keys hadn’t lost a match since her title triumph at the Adelaide International. Her incredible winning streak was stretched so long that some of the fans even wondered if she was getting bored with winning.

Responding to that in her pre-match press conference ahead of the semifinals, Keys had said, “I am not at all bored of winning because you still remember what it feels like to lose. It’s probably something you will never forget. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a long winning streak, but obviously, I would like it to be even longer.” However, her dream of extending her winning streak was ended by the Belarusian in a ruthless fashion.

Aryna Sabalenka showcased an impressive performance in this match. In cool, blustery conditions, she looked in full control in her baseline tennis and maintained rally pressure to force 21 errors from the American. The World number 1 won the first eleven games before Keys finally held serve to get onto the board. The 30-year-old hit 2 aces and won just 40% of her first serve and 50% of her second serve against Sabalenka.

However, the tennis fraternity is still all praise for Maddie. The ex-American pro Pam Shriver backed her compatriot despite her recent Indian Wells loss. “If I could start a year 16-0 and win a major, I would put up with losing 11 straight games every match the rest of the year. Good for Keys to have held serve,” Shriver wrote on X.

Is this the first time Shriver has shown her support for Keys? Well, not really. Even when Keys won the 2023 Rothesay International, Shriver heaped praise on the American sensation. “31 shot rally and Maddy have not always gone hand and hand, but it did here! 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻 ,” Shriver wrote on X back then.

Coming back to Sabalenka, with this win in the epic SF clash, the Belarusian is now all set to face one of the promising stars of women’s tennis, Mirra Andreeva, in the final. Time will tell who’ll win that battle, but what did the Belarusian say after securing her fifth win against Keys?

“I needed this revenge badly” – Aryna Sabalenka’s first reaction after beating Madison Keys

Earlier this year, Aryna Sabalenka lost the opportunity to complete an AO three-peat after losing the final to Madison Keys. The American defeated her by a 6-3,2-6,7-5 scoreline in the summit clash in Melbourne. The Indian Wells semifinal was their first meeting after that match, and the ‘Tigress’ was already roaring before this match. 

“I’m really excited. I really hope I can do a little bit better than I did in Australia. [The final] only coming to my mind as motivation to get back that revenge. It was a tough match. She played great there. I didn’t play my best, and I’m really happy that tomorrow I will have the opportunity to get this revenge back,” Sabalenka had said in the pre-match press conference.

The Belarusian struck 14 winners to Keys’ 10 while hitting 10 unforced errors. On the other hand, Keys bowed out with 18 unforced errors. After the match, Sabalenka revealed how the AO loss was a really heartbreaking moment for her, and she needed some time to recover from it. All she wanted was not to repeat those similar mistakes again. She was “focussed” and “hungry“!

“Well, I needed this revenge badly…I didn’t expect this match to be that fast. I’m super happy with how I played. Much-needed revenge,” Sabalenka added.

After this win against Madison Keys, the world number one is all set to face the 17-year-old Russian, Mirra Andreeva, in the final. Sabalenka has a 4-1 lead in the head-to-head record against Andreeva. Do you think Andreeva can turn the tables this time around?