MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Defending champion Madison Keys has been knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American, and podcast pal, Jessica Pegula.
Pegula, seeded sixth, defeated the ninth-seeded Keys 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Arena to reach the quarterfinals. Pegula, who has never claimed a Grand Slam, won the first set in only 32 minutes.
Pegula raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set, and Pegula also broke to open the second set and again
surged to a 4-1 lead as Keys struggled with her serve. The match ended when Keys hit a forehand into the net.
Pegula was excellent with her serve accuracy and kept the ball in the play with few unforced errors.
Pegula and Keys had played three times previously, and Keys had won the last two.
Pegula reached the U.S. Open final in 2024 but lost to Aryna Sabalenka. It will be her fourth appearance in the quarterfinals in Australia.
Pegula and Keys are good friends and have been doing a podcast together. Keys had said earlier it would be the "first match in Grand Slam history between two podcast co-hosts.”
In a later match Monday at Rod Laver Arena, fifth-seeded man Lorenzo Musetti faced American Taylor Fritz, who is seeded No. 9.
In night matches, second-ranked Iga Swiatek was up against Australian Maddison Inglis, and the eighth-seeded man Ben Shelton faced Casper Ruud.
Novak Djokovic was due to be the feature night match at Rod Laver Arena on Monday but has had a walkover into the quarterfinals after his opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew from their scheduled fourth-round match with an abdominal injury.
___
More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
