Pegula ousts defending champion in All-American clash at Australian Open

Jessica Pegula bounced defending Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the fourth round in an All-American clash in Melbourne, Australia, on Monday, Jan. 26 (Sunday night in the U.S.)

Pegula, the No. 6 seed, cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 9 Keys in the first match on Rod Laver Arena in 1 hour, 19 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open for the fourth time in her career (2021, 2022, 2023, 2026).

She joins fellow Americans Coco Gauff, the No. 3 seed, No. 4 seed Amanda Anisimova and No. 29 seed Iva Jovic in the quarterfinals.

‘I’ve been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament,’ Pegula said after sharing a warm embrace at the net with Keys. ‘I wanted to stay true to that, lean on a couple things that I felt she would do, and I felt like I came out doing it pretty well. Maybe I got a couple of quick points from her early on.

‘When I had the lead, I tried to just stick with it as much as I could. Even then, she got a little rhythm coming back, but I just really tried to focus on I needed to do and patterns to look out for.’

Pegula, 31, reached the U.S. Open final in 2024 for her best singles result in a Grand Slam tournament. She will face the winner of the Anisimova-Wang match in the quarterfinals.

Neither player had dropped a set in their opening three matches of the 2026 Australian Open, and it was an aggressive Pegula who breezed to a 3-0 lead and then swapped breaks with Keys, before taking the opening frame in only 31 minutes.

Keys came out swinging in the second set but was broken in the opening game, and while Pegula surrendered her own serve at 4-1 she was able to withstand the mounting pressure to seal the win.

Keys made 28 unforced errors with six double faults in the contest, and Pegula said the key to the victory was her own variations on serve as well as a bit of fortune.

‘I had to focus on where I was and be smart and take some serves, change up the pace as well as I could,’ she added.