MELBOURNE, Australia — 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 and Anisimova’s wins on Day 9 meant four Americans reached the women’s singles quarterfinals in Australia for the first time since 2001, when Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport made it to the last eight.
“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 had a slightly different view: “At least one of us will get through, and I think that’s great for American tennis.”
“It’s been pretty crazy how well the women have been doing and how many top-ranked girls there are,” she added. “I’m just happy to be a part of that conversation.”
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 past two majors in Wimbledon and the US 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 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 past two. But on Monday, it was Pegula who had the upper hand almost throughout, thanks to 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,” Keys said. “I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back.”
Pegula’s best performance in a major was making the US Open final in 2024, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. The top-ranked Sabalenka is aiming for a third title in four years.
No. 5 Elena Rybakina, the runner-up to Sabalenka here in 2023, advanced over Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-3.
In the later match Monday, Anisimova battled frustrations with the heat before closing it out with an ace in the second set.
She 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.
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,” Anisimova 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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.