Madison Keys experienced a déjà vu moment of the most agonizing kind during her Australian Open semifinal against Iga Swiatek in January.
The 29-year-old American, who previously reached the Melbourne semifinals in 2015 and 2022, had a history of near-misses at majors. Including the Australian Open, she had reached the semifinals at Grand Slams four other times — once at Roland Garros and three times at the US Open — but had only won one of those matches. Her most recent heartbreak came at the 2023 US Open, where she lost a final-set tiebreaker to Aryna Sabalenka despite winning the first set 6-0 and serving for the match.
Against Swiatek, Keys fought back after dropping the first set, cruising 6-1 in the second. In the third set, she had two break points to lead 5-3 and later led 15-30 on Swiatek’s serve at 4-5, but failed to convert both chances. The match came down to a deciding 10-point tiebreaker, where Keys had a chance at 7-7 but saw her forehand attempt returned by Swiatek for a winner. Two points later, the American’s quest fell short once more, echoing her past near-misses.
