Defending Australian Open champion Keys falls to Pegula

MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Madison Keys was knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American, and podcast pal, Jessica Pegula on Monday in the fourth round.

The sixth-seeded Pegula will next face another American after fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova made it to the Australian Open quarterfinals for the first time.

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 U.S. Open, advanced 7-6 (4), 6-4 over Wang Xinyu as the temperature started rising at Melbourne Park, and organizers triggered the heat stress policy which allowed for extra cooling breaks.

Pegula is into the quarterfinals for the fourth time in Australia but has never previously gone beyond that round at the season-opening major.

She took a 4-1 lead early and needed only 32 minutes to clinch the first set. She broke to open the second set and again surged to a 4-1 lead as Keys struggled on serve.

“I’ve been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament, and I wanted to stay true to that,” Pegula said. “Then just lean into a couple things that I felt like she would do, and I felt like I came out doing it pretty well

“Even when she got a little rhythm back, I just really tried to focus on what I needed to do and patterns to look out for.”

Pegula and Keys had played three times previously, and Keys had won the last two. But on Monday it was Pegula that had the upper hand almost throughout on the back of her serve accuracy and few unforced errors.

Keys said Pegula dictated from the start.

“I felt like if I didn’t hit a really good ball immediately, she was in charge of the points,” she said. “I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back.”

Pegula’s best performance in a major was making the U.S. Open final in 2024, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. The top-ranked Sabalenka is aiming for a third title in four years.

Meanwhile, in the later match, Anisimova battled frustrations with the heat before closing out her match with an ace in the second set.

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.

“What a battle out there. Tough conditions against a really good opponent,” she said. “There were a lot of fans from China today, but honestly, it made the atmosphere great.

It wasn’t for me but I was pretending it was just getting rowdy out there.”

As for her next assignment, Anisimova said it would be fun.

“Sucks that one American has to go out in the quarterfinals,” she said. “Jess is such a great player, so I’m sure it’s going to be a great battle.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.