Oh my goodness, that IS ironic!  Perhaps they ARE on a mission to give us the opposite of what we prefer! Haha! :-)

I found this info from above interesting... 

If you use the "NEW" button & select RECEIVE PAYMENT from the main menu, this results in the SAVE & CLOSE being the default. 

Since you prefer that, maybe you should try this. Hopefully, it will work for you!

If you prefer SAVE & NEW, then start from an actual invoice & receive payment from that screen.  This seems to work but only ONE TIME...the new invoice again defaults to SAVE & CLOSE.  :-(

Left with no alternative, I'm using the CTRL+ALT+S workaround.  Good luck to you!