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01/25 23:41 CST Pegula knocks 2025 champion Madison Keys out of Australian
Open, faces Anisimova in quarterfinals
Pegula knocks 2025 champion Madison Keys out of Australian Open, faces
Anisimova in quarterfinals
By JOHN PYE
AP Sports Writer
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) --- 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.
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. "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." 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 ?wi?tek was up against Australian Maddison Inglis, and the eighth-seeded man Ben Shelton faced Casper Ruud. ___ More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis |
