But the American player expects a tough test in Saturday's final against red-hot Sabalenka
USA's Madison Keys gets emotional after her victory against Poland's Iga Swiatek in the Australian Open semifinal. — AFP
Madison Keys said the personal work she had put in to develop a bolder approach to her game paid dividends on Thursday, after the American 19th seed saved a match point to stun Iga Swiatek and set up an Australian Open final against Aryna Sabalenka.
The 29-year-old clinched a famous 5-7 6-1 7-6(8) win over Swiatek but was a point away from her fourth semifinal exit at Melbourne Park when the Polish second seed was serving at 6-5 in the deciding set.
Keys turned the match around from there and said her semifinal defeat by Sabalenka in the US Open two years ago taught her how to take her chances and not have regrets.
"I've been doing a lot of personal work with all of that. One of the big things, after I lost to Aryna at the US Open, I felt like I tried to play safe and I wasn't playing how I wanted to in the big moments. That felt so bad," Keys told reporters.
"I felt like if I can go out and do what I want to do and really just be uncomfortable at times and go for it and play the way I play my best tennis, and I lose, then I can walk away and say, 'Okay, I did my best, she beat me, that's fine'.
"I didn't want to be in the same situation where I looked back and thought 'Man, I should have gone for it.' I didn't want to have any regrets for not really laying it all out there."
Swiatek's defeat meant holder Sabalenka, who is aiming for a 'threepeat', will leave the Australian Open as world number one and Keys expects a tough test in her bid to seal a second win over the Belarusian in their sixth meeting on Saturday.
"What's really impressive is her mentality. Her ability to always go for it, no matter what the score is, is impressive," former US Open runner-up Keys said of the reigning New York champion.
"She plays such fearless tennis. She has the ability to play so well that way. It's unique.
"Not only is that impressive on her side, but it puts a bit more pressure on opponents where you know you're always going to have to try to win the point because she's never going to just play passive and give you an easy point."
Earlier, Belarusian top seed Sabalenka overwhelmed her best friend Paula Badosa 6-4 6-2 in an impressive display of sheer power to storm into her third straight title clash at the year's opening Grand Slam, where she will bid for her fourth major title.
Sabalenka was not perfect and trailed Badosa 2-0 in the opening set with a flurry of unforced errors, but she soon found her mark and put her dependable forehand to work to end the 11th seed's run in the Spaniard's first major semifinal.
"I have goosebumps. I'm so proud of myself and my team to put ourselves in this situation," said Sabalenka as she set up the prospect of a 'three-peat' in Melbourne for the first time since Martina Hingis in 1997-99.
"If I put my name in history it'll mean the world for me, I couldn't even dream of it ... I'll go out and give everything in the final."
After taking the surprise early lead, Badosa was constantly under siege on serve.
She hung tough to save a slew of break points but it felt like only a matter of time before Sabalenka crashed through her defences, which she duly did by breaking Badosa in the third and fifth games before holding firm to take the first set.
Badosa tried to conjure the fighting spirit that saw her beat Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals in one of the shocks of the event, but Sabalenka's pressure wore her down and she hit a double fault to drop serve in the third game of the second set.
World number one Sabalenka rode the momentum to a 5-1 lead before sealing the match with a forehand down the line.
It may be a while before the Spaniard can get over the defeat to hang out again with her Belarusian buddy.
"She'll probably hate me for a day or two and then we can be friends again and go shopping. I promise we'll do that and I'll pay for whatever she wants," said Sabalenka.
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