Australian Open: Pegula Knocks Madison Keys, Faces Anisimova in Quarterfinals

Melbourne: Jessica Pegula knocked podcast pal and defending champion Madison Keys out of the Australian Open on Monday and moved into a quarterfinal 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 quarterfinals,” Anisimova said of her next match against Pegula. “Jess is such a great player, so I’m sure it’s going to be a great battle.”

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 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.

“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."

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 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.

Frustrations as temperatures rise 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 today but, honestly, it made the atmosphere great.”

Musetti's journey Lorenzo Musetti reached the quarterfinals for the first time in Australia with a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 win over No. 9 Taylor Fritz.

The fifth-seeded Musetti has had a disrupted run, with one of his coaches and a physio having to return to Italy 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. “I didn’t get much sleep in the offseason. But we found a way to work and to practice really well on and off the court.

"Now it’s more than 20 days that I’m alone and it’s not easy, but I feel their presence also here.”

His next mission is against a rested Novak Djokovic. The 24-time major winner had been scheduled to be the feature night match at Rod Laver Arena on Monday but had a walkover into the quarterfinals after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew from their scheduled fourth-round match with an abdominal injury.

Night matches In night matches, second-ranked Iga Świątek was up against Australian Maddison Inglis, and the eighth-seeded man Ben Shelton faced Casper Ruud.