MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Madison Keys has been knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American, and podcast pal, Jessica Pegula.
Pegula, seeded sixth, defeated the ninth-seeded Keys 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Area to succeed in the quarterfinals for the fourth time in Australia.
Pegula raced to a 4-1 lead within the first set and took it in 32 minutes. She then broke to open the second set and once more surged to a 4-1 lead as Keys struggled on serve. The match ended when Keys hit a forehand into the online.
“I’ve been enjoying very well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball very well this entire match, and I wished to remain true to that,” stated 31-year-old Pegula. “Then simply lean into a pair issues that I felt like she would do, and I felt like I got here out doing it fairly nicely
“After I had the lead, I attempted to stay with that as a lot as I might.
“Even when she acquired a bit of rhythm again, I simply actually tried to deal with what I wanted to do and patterns to look out for.”
Pegula and Keys had performed 3 times beforehand, and Keys had gained the final two. However on Monday it was Pegula that had the higher hand nearly all through on the again of her serve accuracy and few unforced errors.
The 2025 champion lamented not taking benefit within the second set when she had probabilities. However Pegula wouldn’t let her.
“I feel she (Pegula) did a extremely good job from the beginning of simply being the one which was dictating and in cost,” Keys stated. “I felt like if I didn’t hit a extremely good ball instantly, she was in command of the factors.
“I used to be form of struggling to form of get that dominance again,” Keys added. “Then I really feel like particularly within the second set I felt like I had some alternatives to interrupt that I wasn’t tremendous proud of, simply form of fast errors and never enjoying the very best factors in massive moments.”
Pegula’s finest efficiency in a serious was making the U.S. Open closing in 2024, the place she misplaced to Aryna Sabalenka. She is going to face both No.4-seeded Amanda Anisimova or Wang Xinyu subsequent.
In a later match Monday at Rod Laver Area, fifth-seeded man Lorenzo Musetti confronted American Taylor Fritz, who’s seeded No. 9.
In evening matches, second-ranked Iga Świątek was up in opposition to Australian Maddison Inglis, and the eighth-seeded man Ben Shelton confronted Casper Ruud.
Novak Djokovic was because of be the characteristic evening match at Rod Laver Area on Monday, however has had a walkover into the quarterfinals after his opponent, Jakub Mensik, withdrew from their scheduled fourth-round match with an stomach harm.
