Last year’s Australian Open finalists Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka have both started their 2026 campaigns in the best possible way with victories at the Brisbane International.Â
Defending Australian Open champion Keys earned a 6-4, 6-3 victory over McCarthy Kessler in the second round on Pat Rafter Arena.
Meanwhile, Sabalenka laid down an awesome marker with a brutal 6-0, 6-1 demolition of Cristina Bucșa in the very next match.
“It’s always a little nerve-wracking playing your first match of the year,” Keys said on court after the win.
“I felt like I was trying to knock a little bit of the rust off, but overall really happy with how today went.”
Making predictions based on just two sets of tennis is rarely advisable, but at times Keys looked impressively slick in her victory.Â
And despite a disappointing end to the 2025 season that saw her lose eight of her 17 matches since a quarter-final run at Roland Garros, including a first-round exit at the US Open, Keys looks likely to be a threat in Melbourne Park.
The world number seven came out the blocks strongly, hitting clean, crisp winners with a businesslike intensity from behind the baseline.
Her heavy groundstrokes earned her an early break but the first set ended up proving to be far from plain sailing.
A combination of Keys’s own ring rust and some inventive, attractive tennis from Kessler turned the contest into a serious battle.Â
McCartney Kessler played a valiant all-court game, but could not stay with Madison Keys. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
Keys had never faced fellow American Kessler, the world number 31, in a match on the WTA tour.
But the 26-year-old from Georgia would have made a lasting impression with an impressive response to being broken early.
“She’s such a great player,” Keys said on court after the win.
“She’s such a great competitor so I knew it was going to be a great match.”
The 26-year-old attacked with her punchy two-handed backhand from the baseline and tested Keys scrambling in the humid conditions.
Keys was broken in the seventh game and had to stave off two break points in the ninth as Kessler fought back.
But every time Kessler’s serve was in the slot, Keys crushed it for a dominant winner and ended up converting a fifth break point to claim the first set.
Madison Keys said she had worked on starting her points stronger in the offseason. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
The second set started in the same vein as the first, as Keys was again tested by Kessler’s movement up and down the court.
Both women earned early break points that neither could convert, before Keys’ power told, breaking Kessler twice on her way to a comfortable victory in an hour and 26 minutes.
“It feels amazing coming back to Australia,” Keys, who also won the Adelaide International last season, said.Â
“Obviously last year was a dream come true and something that I’ll remember as one of my career moments.
“I would obviously love a repeat of last year but that’s asking for a lot if you’re asking to leave the country undefeated.
“That’s always the goal but so far so good.”
Sabalenka destroys world number 50 in awesome display
Aryna Sabalenka treated her second round opponent with utter contempt. (Getty Images: Albert Perez)
So far so good for Keys, but the form of the woman she denied a hat-trick of victories at Melbourne Park last year, world number one Sabalenka, appears a serious obstacle to Keys going back-to-back.
Sabalenka’s 48-minute destruction of 50-ranked Romanian Cristina Bucsa was as impressive to witness as it was doubtless shattering to be on the end of.
The slightly-built Romanian was totally blown away, wilting in the presence of Sabalenka’s brilliance.
If the match was happening in the school playground you’d have wanted a teacher to stop it to avoid allegations of bullying.
But it wasn’t.Â
This was the world number one against the world number 50 — hardly a mismatch on paper but still discarded in a way that felt desperately ominous to the rest of the field.
There are few players who can match the athleticism and power of Sabalenka, but her competitiveness is on another level too.
Bucsa only won 22 points in the entire match, a handful from Sabalenka’s own mistakes.
But those unforced errors were all treated as almost a personal affront by Sabalenka, furious to give her opponent a sniff of success against her.
Keys, the seventh seed and Sabalenka, the first, are scheduled to meet in the quarter-finals in Brisbane should they both win their next matches.Â