No. 9 of '23: Aryna Sabalenka "somehow magically" wins US Open semifinal over Keys

Tennis Channel will re-air this match on December 6 at 7PM ET.

Aryna Sabalenka didn’t turn out to be the top player of 2023. Yet she defined the WTA season—for better or worse—and was involved in many of its most memorable matches. She won her first major, at the Australian Open. She squandered seemingly insurmountable leads in the semifinals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon. She collapsed in the US Open final. She reached No. 1 for the first time, then gave that ranking back in the season’s final weekend.

Sabalenka proved beyond doubt that she’s prone to anxiety attacks on big stages. But in her US Open semifinal against Madison Keys, she showed that she can also play clutch tennis, and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. By the time this topsy-turvy, two and a half hour affair finished in the early morning hours in New York, Sabalenka had staged the comeback of her career, and handed the heartbreak of the season to her American opponent.

For most of the first two sets, the match looked like a straightforward sprint to victory for Keys. She was playing her first semifinal at her home Slam since 2018, and must have liked her chances of winning her first major. In the fourth round, she had dropped the hammer on a higher-ranked American, Jessica Pegula. On the other side of the draw, the tour’s most-feared player, Iga Swiatek, had been eliminated.

However she felt, Keys broke out of the gates with maximum confidence. She drilled her returns deep and down the middle, and followed with blazing winners into the corners.

“It’s like target practice,” an awed Mary Jo Fernandez said in  the ESPN booth. “I’ve never seen her play this well.”

“I was just like, ‘What can I do?’” Sabalenka said. “She’s playing unbelievable, just crushing everything.”

Keys crushed her way to a bagel first set. Early in the second, she broke again, and nearly knocked Sabalenka to the ground with a return. Between games, Sabalenka let out her rage on her coaches, and tossed a racquet in their direction.

It was Madi’s match—until she served for it.

At 5-4 in the second, the nerves finally hit Keys, and the wheels came off all at once. She was broken at love. By the time they got to the tiebreaker, Sabalenka had stabilized.

Still, Keys regained controlled early in the third and went up 4-2. But again, she began not misfire with a lead, and as her confidence waned, Sabalenka’s waxed. She began to attack the net, leveled at 4-4, and pulled away in the 10-point match tiebreaker by hitting forceful returns and forehands. Sabalenka, thinking they were playing a seven-point breaker, raised her arms in celebration when she got to seven. But even that mix-up wasn’t enough to derail her. She came right back with a perfect drop shot to go up 9-3, and won 10-5 from there.

“Lucky me, somehow magically, I was able to turn around this [match],” Sabalenka said.

For once in a Slam semi, it was her opponent who had to deal with the aftermath of collapse. It wasn’t easy.

“Everyone at the start of the tournament would obviously be really excited to be in the semis,” a glum Keys said afterward. “Right now it sucks.”