Aryna Sabalenka was on a revenge mission against Madison Keys in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open on Friday night, having lost to her in the final of the Australian Open earlier this year.
And this time she was absolutely ruthless.
The world No. 1 stormed past her Melbourne conqueror in just 51 minutes, 6-0, 6-1, in front of a stunned crowd, to move comfortably through to the final of the WTA 1000-level tournament.
“I didn’t expect this match to be that fast, to be honest, but I’m super happy with the way I played today,” she said afterwards.
“And yeah, much-needed revenge. I’m super happy to get this win against Madison—what an amazing season so far she’s having, and I hope to play many more matches against her.”
Sabalenka finished with 14 winners to 10 unforced errors and converted five of six break points. Meanwhile, Keys had 10 winners to 18 unforced errors, with one break point—but she didn’t convert.
Final points count: Sabalenka 53, Keys 27.
Keys had won her last 16 matches in a row going into Friday night’s contest, a streak that not only included her run to the Australian Open title, but also her run to the Adelaide title the week before that.