Defending champion Madison Keys’ Australian Open 2026 campaign ended after she faced a straight-sets defeat against Jessica Pegula in the fourth round of the ongoing tournament. Pegula dispatched Keys and defeated her with a score of 6-3, 6-4.
The Australian Open 2026 campaign ended in heartbreaking fashion for defending champion Madison Keys. Taking on world number six Jessica Pegula in the fourth round of the tournament, Keys sustained a 6-3, 6-4 defeat as Pegula made it to the quarter-final of the competition, with Keys facing elimination.ย
It is worth noting that Madison Keys had defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the Australian Open 2025 final, but she was unable to make the most of her campaign this time around.ย
Throughout the game, Pegula forced Keys into multiple errors and even capitalised on it as well. Pegula took control early in both sets and managed to dispatch the defending champion and make it through to the last eight stage of the competition.ย
Interestingly, Keys was in brilliant form throughout the Australian Open; she had defeated Oleksandra Oliynykova in the first round, defeated Ashlyn Krueger, and breezed past Karolรญna Plรญลกkovรก in the third round before losing the clash against Pegula in round four.ย
Pegula opened up on her performance after the game
Defeating the defending champion of the tournament, Jessica Pegula took centre stage and gave her take on her showing. She reflected on how she was completely focused on getting her things right and sticking to the basics.ย
โIโve been playing really well, seeing the ball and hitting the ball really well this whole tournament, and I wanted to stay true to that. I just tried to, when I had the lead, stick with that as much as I could, even though she got a little rhythm coming back. I just really tried to focus on what I needed to do and the patterns to look out for,โ Pegula said in her on-court interview.ย
She will be taking on her next opponent in the quarter-final on January 27. Her opponent as of yet is undecided.ย
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