Ashleigh Barty and Madison Keys could hardly have taken more contrasting routes to the Australian Open semi-finals. Both women have been there before, and both have made serene progress through the top half of the draw at Melbourne Park, with Keys losing one set and Barty none. There, though, the similarities come to an abrupt halt.
After an all-conquering 2021 season in which she ended Australia’s 41-year wait for a female Wimbledon champion, there is nothing unexpected about Barty’s presence in the last four. The world No 1 has barely put a foot wrong at her home slam so far, and it is a measure of her dominance that 21st seed Jessica Pegula, who she demolished 6-2, 6-0 in 63 minutes, is the only player other than Camila Giorgi to detain her beyond the hour mark in her five matches so far.
Keys, on the other hand, can hardly have dreamed she would get so far. The American has been ranked as high as sixth in the world but, after struggling to adapt to a new world of Covid protocols and bio-secure bubbles last season, she is currently languishing at 51. That will soon change. Having won just 11 matches last season, Keys has now racked up that many victories in less than a month, compiling a 10-match winning streak – the best of her career – to win a title in Adelaide and reach her second Australian Open semi-final, a full seven years after she made the first.
Keys, whose destructive power game carried her to the US Open final five years ago, has done it in style too. Having taken out former champion Sofia Kenin in the opening round and obliterated eighth seed Paula Badosa in the last 16, the 26-year-old claimed another high-profile scalp in the shape of Barbora Krejcikova, the French Open champion and fourth seed.
A key feature of her progress has been a more measured approach that has seen her rein in her signature power game. “I’ve been working on it a lot,” said the American after her 6-3, 6-2 win. “It’s not something that I used to necessarily do in the past.
“I’m really just trying to be a lot more measured and just playing within myself a little bit more, not necessarily trying to hit a winner on that ball, just constantly trying to set the point up to get to the net, to try to finish off on even the next ball. If it happens to be a winner, then it happens to be a winner.”
Keys is alive to the danger posed by Barty – “great slice, can dominate with her forehand” – but will seek to draw on her experience and more relaxed mindset as she targets a second major final.
“I’m seven years older and it’s not my first semi-final of a slam,” said the American, who has reached that stage or better three times previously. “I think I’m a little bit more prepared this time around than I was all those years ago.
“I have gone into every match thinking I can absolutely win any match that I’m out on the court. I will say it’s been kind of nice to be the underdog for the first time in a long time. It’s really just not even in my head about winning and losing.
“It’s just going out, competing, trying to do what the game plan is. If that’s not working, going to Plan B. The rest is kind of not even getting into my brain.”
It is just the kind of balanced approach in which Barty specialises, which augurs well for what should be a tightly contested match if Keys can maintain the form that has got her this far.
“Maddie is an exceptional athlete, she has a great serve, great first strike off the return and off her first ball after her serve,” said Barty.
“A lot of the time it’s about trying to put her in an uncomfortable position, try and get her off balance, because if she controls the centre of the court the match is on her racquet.
“I need to be able to find a balance, problem solve my way through it, try and work out a way to nullify her strengths and bring it back to my patterns if I can, and understand it’s not always in my control.”