MELBOURNE, Australia — Defending champion Madison Keys was knocked out of the Australian Open by fellow American and podcaster friend Jessica Pegula.
Sixth-seeded Pegula defeated ninth-seeded Case 6-3, 6-4 on Monday at Rod Laver Arena to advance to the quarterfinals. Pegula, who has never won a Grand Slam, won the first set in just 32 minutes.
Pegula led 4-1 in the first set. Pegula also broke serve at the start of the second set. When Case was in trouble on serve, Pegula led 4-1 again. The game ended when Keys hit a forehand into the net.
“I played really well the whole tournament, saw the ball really well, hit the ball really well, and I wanted to keep that going,” the 31-year-old Pegula said. “Then focus on something that I feel like she would do, and I feel like I’m doing a good job
“When I’m ahead, I try to hold on as long as I can.
“Even when she gets her rhythm back a little bit, I’m just trying to focus on what I need to do and what patterns I need to pay attention to.”
Pegula and Case have played against each other three times before, with Case winning the last two times. But on Monday, Pegula dominated almost from start to finish with her serving accuracy and few unforced errors.
This will be Pegula’s fourth appearance in Australia’s quarter-finals. Her best performance at a Grand Slam was reaching the 2024 U.S. Open final, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.
Fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti takes on American ninth seed Taylor Fritz in a match later on Monday at Rod Laver Arena.
In night matches, second-ranked Iga Swiatek takes on Australian Madison Inglis and eighth-seeded Ben Shelton takes on Casper Rudd.
Novak Djokovic was due to play a highlight-reel night match on Rod Laver Arena on Monday, but he advanced to the quarter-finals after his opponent Jakub Mencic withdrew from his scheduled fourth-round match with an abdominal injury.
