The Madison Keys who will play two-time defending champion Aryna Sabalenka for the title at the Australian Open on Saturday night is not the same Madison Keys who was the runner-up at the U.S.

Aryna Sabalenka moved one win away from becoming the first woman since 1999 to win three consecutive Australian Open titles, recovering from a slow start to beat good friend Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-2 Thursday night to return to the final.

By Shrivathsa Sridhar and Ian Ransom MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys made sluggish starts on Thursday but sealed contrasting victories to set up an Australian Open final showdown that will pit two of the game's heavy hitters against each other.

Aryna Sabalenka’s bid for a third consecutive Australian Open championship will continue after she got past Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in a surprisingly difficult quarterfinal.