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).
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She joins fellow Americans Coco Gauff, the No. 3 seed, and No. 29 seed Iva Jovic in the quarterfinals. No. 4 seed Amanda Anisimova faces unseeded Xinyu Wang later Monday and could put four American women into the quarterfinals.
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Jan. 18: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action against Adam Walton of Australia in the first round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park.
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Jan. 18: Carlos Alcaraz of Spain in action against Adam Walton of Australia in the first round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne Park.
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Jan. 18: Austria’s Anastasia Potapova in action during her first round match against Netherlands’ Suzan Lamens.
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Jan. 18: Emma Raducanu of United Kingdom celebrates her victory over Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand in the first round of the women’s singles at the Australian Open at Margaret Court Arena in Melbourne Park.
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Jan. 18: Sebastian Korda of United States in action against Michael Zheng of United States in the first round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open.
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Jan. 18: Alexander Zverev of Germany plays a backhand against Gabriel Diallo of Canada in the Men’s Singles First Round during day one of the 2026 Australian Open.
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Jan. 18: Venus Williams reacts on a point to Serbia’s Olga Danilovic during their women’s singles match on day one of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne.
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Jan. 18: Hailey Baptiste of United States in action against Taylor Towsend of United States in the first round of the women’s singles at the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.
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Jan. 18: Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez celebrates after winning her first round match against Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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Alexander Bublik of Kazakhstan in action against Jenson Brooksby of United States in the first round of the men’s singles.
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Jan. 18: Frances Tiafoe of United States in action against Jason Kubler of Australia in the first round of the men’s singles at the Australian Open at John Cain Arena in Melbourne Park.
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Jan. 18: Michael Zheng of United States in action against Sebastian Korda of United States.
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Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine ices her ankle during her match against Elsa Jacquemot of France in the first round.
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Jan. 18: France’s Corentin Moutet serves against Australia’s Tristan Schoolkate during their men’s singles match on day one.
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Jan. 18: Gabriel Diallo of Canada serves against Alexander Zverev of Germany in the Men’s Singles First Round.
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Jan. 18: Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo serves to China’s Zhang Zhizhen during their men’s singles match on day one.
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Jan. 17: Ash Barty of Australia, Roger Federer of Switzerland, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt of Australia and Andre Agassi of the United States are interviewed after the Opening Ceremony exhibition match ahead of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
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Jan. 17: Roger Federer of Switzerland, left, and Andre Agassi of the United States laugh during the Opening Ceremony ahead of the 2026 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia.
AUSTRALIAN OPEN BRACKET: Results, schedule, how to watch upcoming matches
“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.
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“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.
Keys, 30, won her lone Grand Slam singles title in last year’s Australian Open after defeating No. 2 Iga Świątek in the semifinals and No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
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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.
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“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.
Contributing: Reuters
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jessica Pegula beats Madison Keys in Australian Open fourth round