Madison Keys is a grand slam champion!

The American tennis player, 29, secured her first grand slam title on Jan. 25, achieving a breakthrough win over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who was vying for what would have been a historic three-peat. The women's singles match at Melbourne's Rod Laver Arena saw Keys win 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.

Keys' last and only other appearance in a grand slam final was eight years ago, where fellow American Sloane Stephens won the match against her.

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But that defeat makes this win that much more sweet, Keys said.

"I made my very first grand slam semifinal here in Melbourne, so to now have won my first grand slam in the same place means the absolute world to me. And I'm so thankful for all of you who come out and cheer every single tournament and every single time we play here in Melbourne," Keys said after securing the victory.

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"And I just wanted to say thank you to my team — and this is where I'm going to cry," Keys said, getting teary-eyed. "I have wanted this for so long. And I have been in one other grand slam final and it didn’t go my way, and I didn’t know if I was going to be able to get back into this position to win a trophy again. And my team believed in me every step of the way, so thank you so much."

Her win on Saturday made Keys the fourth-oldest first-time grand slam champion.

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