Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka completed an epic comeback over Madison Keys to reach her maiden US Open final and deny the home crowd the all-American women’s final they had been dreaming of.

Sabalenka — who is guaranteed to become the world No. 1 on Monday — was brutally bagelled in the first set after Keys had a flawless opening set. Sabalenka also trailed 5-3 in the second but somehow fought her way back. Keys, 28, was a finalist in New York six years ago, so had been in this situation before. But when she served for the match, she bottled it and was broken to love by a resurgent Sabalenka who went on to win the second set.

The Belarusian dialed back into the match and pushed it to a deciding set 10-point tie-break.

Amid the tension, there was then a comical moment as Sabalenka dropped her racket in celebration when she led 7-3, believing she had won the match. But when she was reminded it was a 10-point tiebreak — rather than seven — she laughed, red-faced. She then had to hold her nerve to serve it out, winning 0-6, 7-6(1), 7-6(5) in two hours and 32 minutes.

“I thought that we played the tiebreak up to seven, I don’t know. I was just all over the place,” Sabalenka, 25, said in her on-court interview after the match that stretched till nearly 1am local time.

“But thanks team for reminding me it’s up to 10. I’m really happy I was able to finish this match. She played incredible tennis. Somehow, I don’t know how I turned it around.”

Sabalenka will face American teen sensation Coco Gauff in Saturday’s final. “Amazing player,” Sabalenka said of Gauff. “I’ll be fighting for every point.”

Sabalenka will now try to heap even more disappointment on US tennis fans. A giddy capacity crowd waving US flags were ready to celebrate getting the final they hoped for but Sabalenka had other ideas.

Written with inputs from Reuters, AP/PTI