Madison Keys’ Cinderella run to her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open was magical in a lot of ways, including all of the incredible stats and records she achieved—here are just 20 of them:
First of all, she’s the first American woman—or American, period—to win the Australian Open in five years. Sofia Kenin was the last U.S. player to conquer Melbourne, in 2020. The last U.S. man to conquer Melbourne was Andre Agassi, in 2003.
She’s just the third woman in the Open Era to win five three-setters en route to capturing a Grand Slam title. She battled to three-set wins over Elena-Gabriela Ruse in the second round, Elena Rybakina in the fourth round, Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals, world No.2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. The first two women both did it at Roland Garros—Serena Williams in 2015 and Jelena Ostapenko in 2017.
Having won the title in Adelaide, she’s the first woman to win a lead-up event the week before a major and then go on to win that major since Barbora Krejcikova at Roland Garros in 2021. The Czech won the lead-up event in Strasbourg the week before heading to Paris that year.
At 29 years young, Keys is the fourth-oldest first-time Grand Slam women’s champion in the Open Era. The top three in that stat are Flavia Pennetta at the 2015 US Open (33), Ann Jones at 1969 Wimbledon (30) and Francesca Schiavone at 2010 Roland Garros (also 29).
And with it being her 46th Grand Slam event played, it was also the third-most Grand Slams played for a woman in the Open Era before winning one, trailing only Pennetta at the 2015 US Open (49th played) and Marion Bartoli at 2013 Wimbledon (47th played).
