MELBOURNE, Australia – Jessica Pegula knocked podcast pal and defending champion Madison Keys out of the Australian Open on Monday and moved into a quarter-final against Amanda Anisimova, another all-American match.
Their fourth-round wins on Day 9 meant four Americans reached the women’s singles quarterfinals in Australia for the first time since 2001, when Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport made it to the last 8.
“Sucks that one American has to go out in the quarter-finals,” Anisimova said according to AP.
Pegula had a slightly different view: “At least one of us will get through, and I think that´s great for American tennis.”
“Yeah, it´s been pretty crazy how well the women have been doing and how many top-ranked girls there are,” she added. “I´m just happy to be a part of that conversation.”
Pegula and Anisimova advanced a day after No. 3 Coco Gauff and 18-year-old Iva Jovic earned their places on the other side of the draw.
Pegula’s 6-3, 6-4 win at Rod Laver Arena ended Keys’ first Grand Slam title defense in a tough section of the draw.
Anisimova, runner-up at the last two majors in Wimbledon and the US Open, advanced 7-6 (4), 6-4 over Wang Xinyu as the temperature started rising at Melbourne Park, and organisers triggered the heat stress policy which allowed for extra cooling breaks.
Pegula is into the quarter-finals for the fourth time in Australia but has never previously gone beyond that round at the season-opening major.
“I have been seeing, hitting, moving, I feel like very well this whole tournament, and to be able to keep that up against such a great player as Maddie and defending champion was going to be a lot tougher of a task today,” Pegula said, “I was still able to do that really well.”
Pegula and Keys had played three times previously, and Keys had won the last two. But on Monday it was Pegula who dominated, racing to 4-1 leads in both sets.
“I felt like if I didn´t hit a really good ball immediately, she was in charge of the points,” Keys said. “I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back.”
Pegula’s best performance in a major was making the US Open final in 2024, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. The top-ranked Sabalenka is aiming for a third title in four years.
No. 5 Elena Rybakina, the runner-up to Sabalenka here in 2023, advanced over Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-3.
Anisimova was getting frustrated toward the end of the second set, hitting herself with her racket when she missed a service return. She also damaged a shoe.
Just as the No. 4 seed was about to serve for the match, the tournament’s heat stress index scale hit 4, which means extra cooling breaks are allowed after the second set in women’s singles and third set in men’s singles matches.
It didn’t become a factor, with Anisimova closing with an ace to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time.
“What a battle out there. Tough conditions against a really good opponent,” she said. “There were a lot of fans from China but, honestly, it made the atmosphere great.”
Lorenzo Musetti reached the quarter-finals for the first time in Australia with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over an ailing Taylor Fritz.
It completed a Grand Slam set of quarter-finals for the 23-year-old Italian.
The fifth-seeded Musetti has had a disrupted run, with members of his support team having to return home for personal reasons. He also had to leave his family behind after the birth in November of his second son.
“I feel more mature on the court. I´m playing better for that, and for them,” he said.
