Australian Open: Ben Shelton & Madison Keys match historic Serena & Roddick feat
Australian Open quarter-final victories for Ben Shelton and Madison Keys mean the US will have both a men’s and women’s singles semi-finalist for the first time in 16 years.
Men’s 21st seed Shelton and women’s 19th seed Keys both battled their way into the last four on Wednesday to secure ongoing American representation in Melbourne.
Keys was first on the court on Wednesday and battled past 28th seed Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to reach her third Australian Open semi-final, and seventh major semi-final overall.
“I felt like I had to start playing just a bit more aggressive and get to the net a little bit quicker,” reflected Keys on losing the first set.
“She was controlling a lot of the points and making me run, so I felt like I needed to try and get on the advantage a little bit quicker. Luckily I was able to do that.”
Keys’ victory was followed a few hours later by Shelton, who reached his second Grand Slam semi-final thanks to a four-set victory over unseeded quarter-finalist Lorenzo Sonego.
The American looked to be in trouble after losing a two-set lead, though rallied to claim a 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(4) victory and match his 2023 US Open run.
By reaching the last four, he is just the second left-handed man to reach both the Australian and US Open semi-finals on hard courts – following in the footsteps of Rafael Nadal.
“I feel relieved right now”, said Shelton in his post-match interview. “Shout out [to] Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis.
“I’m just really happy to be through – and get my first win out here on Rod Laver.”
Shelton is the first American man to reach the semi-final of the Australian Open since Tommy Paul in 2023; Paul had beaten an unseeded Shelton in the quarter-final to reach the last four.
Before that, no American man had made the last four in Melbourne since Andy Roddick had reached his fourth and final Australian Open semi-final in 2009.
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With Keys in the women’s semi-final, it is the first time since 2009 that the US has both a man and a woman in the last four – with Roddick being joined by Serena Williams 16 years ago.
Williams went on to win the fourth of her seven Australian Open titles, beating Elena Dementieva in the semi-final and Dinara Safina in the final, while Roddick lost to Roger Federer.
Keys will face No 2 seed Iga Swiatek in the last four, with the Pole having dropped just 14 games on her way to a second Australian Open semi-final.
The American trails 4-1 in their head-to-head though did beat Swiatek at the 2022 Cincinnati Open, where conditions are not too dissimilar to those in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, Shelton will face the winner of the remaining quarter-final between world No 1 Jannik Sinner and eighth seed Alex de Minaur.
