Aryna Sabalenka will play the final of US Open in view of Coco Gauff. The number 2 in the ranking and since Monday, number 1 in the world reversed a first set that gave up blanks and then showed the best version of her and defeated Madison Keys by 0-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (10-5) in two hours and 32 minutes.
After the delay of almost an hour caused by protesters, the duel restarted with a Sabalenka convinced not to let victory slip away, as indeed happened after dominating the following two sets in sudden death.
The 25-year-old Belarusian took over the stadium arthur ashe to advance to the second Grand Slam final of his career. On Saturday she will face No. 6 seed Coco Gauff, who defeated Caroline Muchova.
In the first set Keys seemed to be making her way to a resounding victory over Sabalenka. She nailed it for 6-0 and hit a break three games after the second, putting her in position to reach the final holding serve.
Sabalenka had come this far winning on the basis of her powerful serve and in fact is one of the most dominant servers on tour, but Keys took 14 of her 21 service points in the first set to set the tone.
Sabalenka, the tournament favorite after the upset loss to defending champion and number one seed Iga Swiatek of Poland, looked like the most dominant player in the tournament, winning every match in straight sets.
Against Keys he didn’t seem so dominant. Sabalenka chose the last possible moment to reunite with her tennis. Down 5-4 in the second set with Keys serving, Sabalenka scored her first break of the game, though she was helped by two unforced errors and a double fault from Keys. One of them held serve afterwards, the two went to the tiebreaker which Sabalenka won easily.
The third set began on serve until Keys broke Sabalenka to lead 4-2, then was immediately broken back. Keys nearly got another break in the next game, but Sabalenka saved two break points to stay alive and bring the score to 4-4, a tie that held to force the second tiebreaker again.
Once again, Sabalenka cruised to a tiebreaker victory and completed perhaps the most amazing comeback of her tennis career.
Sabalenka was champion of the australian open in January and on Saturday they will play their second major final this season. Furthermore, she is the 13th woman in the Open Era to reach the semifinals of all four Grand Slams in one season, and the first since. Serena Williams in 2016.
With the victory against Keys, he adds 50 victories this season, a new personal best; Since the beginning of 2021, Sabalenka has so far won 48 matches in Grand Slam tournaments. Only Iga Swiatek has more.
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