After days of enthralling tennis action, the 2025 Australian Open has finally produced the women’s singles champion. Earlier today, Madison Keys continued her run as she upset the defending champion, Aryna Sabalenka, to win the title in Melbourne [6-3, 2-6, 7-5]. With this win, she overcame the perception that many people had about her: She couldn’t handle big moments. It was the American star’s maiden Grand Slam victory, and she also pocketed some crucial WTA ranking points which helped her gain a massive advantage in the WTA rankings.

With her victory in the summit clash, 2000 ranking points were awarded to the champion. As she was absent from the tournament last year, Keys didn’t have any points to defend and took home the entire tally of 2000 points. This helped the American star jump seven spots in the live WTA rankings as she entered the top 10. As per the new rankings, she holds the seventh spot.

Interesting Fact: Madison Keys is the fifth American woman to have won the Australian Open women’s singles (after Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Serena Williams, and Sofia Kenin).

Additionally, she made about US $2,211,000 (£1,780,000), which is just over 20% more than what she was paid in 2017 at the US Open. But things don’t end here. She made history! She is also the first woman in 20 years to defeat the top 2 (Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek) in a Grand Slam event.

Elsewhere, Elena Rybakina and Paula Badosa also made some huge moves in the live WTA rankings. Rybakina reached the pre-quarterfinals and earned 170 ranking points, which enabled her to leap 2 places in the WTA rankings to be in the fifth position. Badosa also entered the top 10 owing to her semifinal appearance at the Australian Open, earning 650 points. Badosa moved from the 12th spot to the 10th spot in the live WTA rankings. However, Sabalenka continues to lead the pack after finishing as the runner-up Down Under.

But coming back to Keys produced the performance of her career to upset Sabalenka in the Australian Open final. Having been around the tour for a long time, it was a well-deserved win for the American star, having strived hard for many years. After the match, she made a heartfelt revelation on winning her maiden Grand Slam title.

Madison Keys turns emotional after her Australian Open win

Over the course of her career, Keys has come close to winning a Grand Slam title on many occasions. Back in 2017, she even reached the US Open final but fell short in the summit clash against her compatriot, Sloane Stephens. Nonetheless, Keys ensured to go a step further this time around and clinch her maiden major trophy.

After the match, she said, “I have wanted this for so long, and I have been in one other Grand Slam final and it didn’t go my way. I didn’t know if I would ever get back in this position and my team believed in me every step of the way. They believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

Further, she added, “Last year was so tough with some really bad injuries and I didn’t know if I’d be able to do it again but to be here and have this trophy, I love you all so much. I’m so appreciative to every person who helped me to continue to believe in myself and push me to achieve this dream.”

Madison Keys will hope to continue her winning run in the upcoming tournaments. However, for now, she can soak in the emotions of winning a Grand Slam title for the first time. “I’ve wanted this for so long,” she said after she finally got to hold the silver trophy.

Interesting Fact: 29-year-old Keys became the fourth-oldest woman to win their first major singles trophy.