By Shrivathsa Sridhar
MELBOURNE, Jan 26 (Reuters) – Jessica Pegula knocked out defending champion Madison Keys at the Australian Open on Monday as the American sixth seed secured a dominant 6-3 6-4 victory to reach the quarter‑finals at Melbourne Park for the fourth time.
Facing a close friend with whom she hosts “The Player’s Box” podcast, Pegula made a blistering start at Rod Laver Arena and only briefly let the momentum slip early in the match to remain on course for a first major title.
“I’ve been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament,” Pegula said after sharing a warm embrace at the net with Keys.
“I wanted to stay true to that, lean on a couple things that I felt she would do, and I felt like I came out doing it pretty well. Maybe I got a couple of quick points from her early on.
“When I had the lead, I tried to just stick with it as much as I could. Even then, she got a little rhythm coming back, but I just really tried to focus on I needed to do and patterns to look out for.”
Neither player had dropped a set in their opening three matches and it was an aggressive Pegula who breezed to a 3-0 lead and then swapped breaks with Keys, before taking the opening frame in only 31 minutes.
Ninth seed Keys came out swinging in the second set but was broken in the opening game, and while the 31-year-old Pegula surrendered her own serve at 4-1 she was able to withstand the mounting pressure to seal the win.
Keys made 28 unforced errors with six double faults in the contest, and Pegula said the key to the victory was her own variations on serve as well as a bit of fortune.
“I had to focus on where I was and be smart and take some serves, change up the pace as well as I could,” she added.
“I feel sometimes my serve, it comes right into her and it comes back faster, even if I hit a good serve. I had to really trust that I was able to change speeds and hit my spots on my first and second serves.
“Then, the second set, honestly, I couldn’t see anything into the sun and I was like, ‘whatever, I got broken’ I was trying not to worry about it.
“It was a little tough on that side into the sun … but I tried not to get too upset about that one.”
Pegula next faces either American fourth seed Amanda Anisimova or Chinese dark horse Wang Xinyu.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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