Madison Keys is the women’s singles champion at Australian Open 2025.
Against all the odds, Keys capped her remarkable run with a superb performance to defeat two-time reigning AO champion Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final, bringing up her first Grand Slam title.
But this is no overnight success. Keys turns 30 next month and this was her second shot at major final glory.
Coming seven years and four months after her first Slam final – a 6-3 6-0 US Open loss to Sloane Stephens in 2017 – it is the longest gap between a player’s first and second appearances in the showpiece match of a major.
Here, we dive into the key data points around Keys’ incredible AO 2025 triumph.
Doing it the hard way
Chris O’Neil (1977) and Serena Williams (2007) won an AO title without being seeded at all, but at No.19, Keys is the lowest seed in the Open era to win the women’s singles at this Slam.
Having overcome Iga Swiatek in the last four, Keys is the first player to defeat the world No. 1 and No. 2 at a Slam since Svetlana Kuznetsova at Roland Garros in 2009, and the first at the AO since Williams in 2005.
She also became the first woman to win an Open era AO title having had to come through three-setters from the fourth round to the final. There have only been four previous such examples at the majors – Sue Barker (Roland Garros 1976), Conchita Martinez (Wimbledon 1994), Maria Sharapova (Roland Garros 2014) and Jelena Ostapenko (Roland Garros 2017).
Keys is the third player in the Open era to win a Slam title with five three-setters en route to the title, after Williams (Roland Garros 2015) and Ostapenko. The American is also the first woman to win an AO title having saved a match point at some stage in her run since Naomi Osaka in 2021, doing so against Swiatek in the semis.
As well as claiming three top-10 wins at a Tour-level event for the first time, Keys also became just the fourth woman to win a major by defeating four of the top 10 seeds, after Evonne Goolagong (Wimbledon 1980), Mary Pierce (AO 1995) and Li Na (Roland Garros 2011).
Biding her time
In the Open era, just Flavia Pennetta (49), Goran Ivanisevic (48) and Marion Bartoli (47) have appeared in more Grand Slam main draws before winning their first title than Keys (46).
She also equalled Caroline Wozniacki (11) for the most women’s singles main draw appearances taken by a player to win their first AO title.
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At 29, she is the second-oldest woman since 1968 to win a first AO crown, after Li in 2014. Among both males and females, Keys is the oldest American in the Open era to win their maiden major.
In beating Sabalenka and Swiatek, Keys is the oldest player to overcome the WTA’s No.1 and No.2 at a Slam since the rankings were first published.
Starting strong
Keys has already won 14 matches this season, which is more than any other player on the WTA Tour.
She claimed her second Adelaide International title on the eve of AO 2025, meaning she is on a 12-match winning streak, the best such run of her career.
And Keys is a force to be reckoned with at the start of the year. Since the start of the 2022 campaign, she has a 32-4 record in the first month of the year (factoring in tournaments that begin in the final week of December but end in January).
Of players to play at least 10 WTA Tour matches across January 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, Keys’ 88.9% win ratio ranks behind only Ash Barty (100% - 11-0) – though she of course retired not long after winning AO 2022.
BEST WIN PERCENTAGE IN JANUARY SINCE 2022 (min. 10 matches)
Player | Win-Loss | Win % |
Ash Barty | 11-0 | 100 |
Madison Keys | 32-4 | 88.9 |
Aryna Sabalenka | 36-5 | 87.8 |
Coco Gauff | 31-6 | 83.8 |
Alycia Parks | 10-2 | 83.3 |
Iga Swiatek | 30-7 | 81.1 |
Mirra Andreeva | 12-4 | 75 |
Thriving in the Aussie summer
And if you’re facing Keys in Australia, then good luck.
At no other Slam does Keys have as many match wins as she has at the AO (34).
She has a win-loss record of 61-18 on Australian soil, on which she has now won three individual titles. Among active WTA players, only Victoria Azarenka (five), Sabalenka (four) and Petra Kvitova (four) can boast more trophy tilts in the country, while Keys also helped the United States win the 2023 United Cup there.
Only in the United Kingdom and USA (both three) has Keys won as many individual titles has she has in Australia, which will forever be the place where she finally ended her Grand Slam wait.