The China Mail - Clinical Pegula dumps defending champion Keys out of Australian Open

The sixth seed dominated the all-American showdown 6-3, 6-4 on Rod Laver Arena to set up a clash with either United States fourth seed Amanda Anisimova or China's Wang Xinyu.

Pegula, who is chasing an elusive Grand Slam title after reaching the US Open final in 2024, made three consecutive Melbourne quarters between 2021-2023.

But the 31-year-old has never gone further.

Beating Keys was bittersweet with the pair close off court, sharing a podcast, "The Player's Box", together with fellow Americans Desirae Krawczyk and Jennifer Brady.

But it was well-deserved with Keys, who stunned heavy favourite Aryna Sabalenka in last year's final for her maiden Slam title, tense and out-of-sorts.

She made 27 unforced errors to Pegula's 17, and fired down six double faults.

"I've been playing really well, seeing the ball, hitting the ball really well this whole tournament," said Pegula, who has dropped just 17 games in her four matches so far.

"And I wanted to kind of stay true to that, and then just lean on a couple things that I felt like she would do, and I felt like I came out kind of doing it pretty well.

"I really had to focus on where I was serving, and be smart and kind of take some risk on some second serves, change up the pace as much as I could," she added.

Pegula opened with a serve to love then worked two break points as she dictated the early rallies, earning a 2-0 lead when Keys blasted a forehand into the net.

She consolidated by holding to take a firm grip on the set with Keys winning just three points in three games.

Keys finally woke up to hold serve, but was mixing some classic shots with horrible errors, including a serve that almost hit the baseline and a badly shanked volley.

A clean-hitting game earned Keys a break back and some hope, but the serving wobbles returned and Pegula broke once more then served out for the set.

Both players were distracted by an air show in the skies over Melbourne Park to mark Australia Day, and three double faults on Keys' opening serve gifted Pegula the advantage again in set two.

Despite mustering some late fight there was no way back for the deflated defending champion as Pegula emphatically sent her packing.

I.Taylor--ThChM--ThChM