Madison Keys, Danielle Collins reach 2022 Australian Open semifinals

Madison Keys has already played in one all-American Grand Slam final, when she met Sloane Stephens in the 2017 US Open championship match. She might soon have another one too look forward to—this time against Danielle Collins at the 2022 Australian Open.

Both women are through to the Melbourne semis, and they're one win apiece away from making that a reality.

After beating Barbora Krejcikova in the quarterfinals, Keys now gets world No. 1 Ashleigh Barty in the Australian's home Slam. Collins, who knocked off France's Alize Cornet, will face seventh seed Iga Swiatek.

Collins is through to her second major semi, with her first coming three years ago in Melbourne as she made her WTA breakthrough. She ended the career-best major run of the unseeded Cornet, 7-5, 6-1, winning eight of the last nine games to set up a semifinal showdown with Poland's Swiatek.

"I think my serving has gotten a lot stronger," Collins said in press, comparing her current game to 2019. "I think my stamina on court has improved tremendously. I think just overall power and speed has improved. That's something that I focused so much on over the last couple years. I think that's probably the biggest difference to where I was, if I compare my semifinal run here in 2019."

Now more familiar with the later rounds of big-time tournaments, Collins will bring that experience into the final four: "Hopefully I can carry the confidence that I've gained over the last couple years and be able to use that to my advantage," she continued.

The women's singles semifinals will be played back-to-back on Thursday evening in Melbourne, which falls during the very early hours of Thursday morning in the U.S. With coverage on ESPN+, Keys will take on Barty at 3:30 a.m. ET, immediately followed by Collins' match against Swiatek.

Also making a deep run in Melbourne is American Rajeev Ram, alongside Britain's Joe Salisbury. The longtime partners are the reigning US Open champion and also won Down Under in 2020. Yet to drop a set in four AO matches, the No. 2 seeds will face the Australian duo of Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell in the semifinals. it will be a rematch of their 2021 US Open meeting, where Ram-Salisbury saved four match points and won a 12-10 third-set tiebreak in a thrilling 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 victory.

We already have on American champion on the fortnight, as David Wagner teamed with Andy Lapthorne of Great Britain to win his ninth Aussie Open doubles crown.

For more from Melbourne, visit the official Australian Open website.