Jessica Pegula sent reigning champion and podcast co-host Madison Keys spinning out of the Australian Open on Monday while Jannik Sinner aims to avoid the same fate and reach the quarter-finals in stifling heat.
In temperatures approaching 30C in Melbourne, fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti set up a last-eight showdown with Novak Djokovic.
Keys and Pegula launched day nine in a clash at Rod Laver Arena between two Americans who know each other well.
They are good friends and also host a tennis podcast together, “The Player’s Box”, and had even been planning to record an episode on the eve of their match.
All that was put aside as a clinical Pegula dominated 6-3, 6-4 to set up a last-eight encounter with another American in fourth seed Amanda Anisimova.
Anisimova, beaten finalist at last year’s US Open and Wimbledon, cooled herself off with bags of ice before taming China’s Wang Xinyu 7-6 (7/4), 6-4.
Pegula, the 31-year-old sixth seed, is chasing an elusive Grand Slam title, her best performance to date reaching the US Open final in 2024.
An erratic Keys made 27 unforced errors to Pegula’s 17 and fired down six double faults as her title defence ended in the last 16.
The forfeit, as a part of a jokey bet with Pegula, will be a slice of apple pie with melted cheddar cheese on top.
“A bet is a bet, so I’ll do it. I hope it’s less gross than I think it’s going to be, but we will find out,” said Keys, who described herself as proud despite defeat.
Iga Swiatek ruthlessly ended Australian hopes at Melbourne Park on Tuesday, dispatching qualifier Maddison Inglis 6-0 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals and continue her quest for a maiden Australian Open title to complete a career Grand Slam.
Inglis, 28, had reached the fourth round after her third-round opponent Naomi Osaka pulled out of the Grand Slam due to an abdominal injury.
The world number 168 was the final Australian in the women’s singles draw.
Swiatek, who needed three sets to beat Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the previous round, produced a strong performance to defeat Inglis, firing off 22 winners.
“I felt pretty confident from the beginning. It felt like the pace of the ball was lot different from my last round. So I needed to adjust with my legs and really be precise with the footwork,” the Polish world number two said.
Swiatek whitewashed Inglis in the opening set, with her powerful baseline returns and movement proving too much for the Australian to handle.
Inglis managed to break Swiatek’s serve in the opening game of the second set, raising her arms in celebration to raucous cheers from Australian spectators at Rod Laver Arena.
However, the joy was short-lived.
Swiatek ratcheted up the intensity and, though Inglis was able to hold serve twice to add respectability to the scoreline, the six-times Grand Slam champion wrapped up the win in an hour and 13 minutes to enter her third Australian Open quarter-final. She faces 2022 Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan.
Jannik Sinner may have felt lucky to survive the Australian Open third round but he rebounded quickly in a straight-sets win Monday over fellow Italian Luciano Darderi to reach the quarterfinals for a ninth consecutive Grand Slam event.
The two-time defending champion struggled with the extreme heat and cramping in his Saturday afternoon win over No. 85-ranked Eliot Spizzirri, and only took control after the roof was closed in the third set.
Sinner later admitted he got a bit lucky with the timing of the extreme heat policy being invoked, leading to an eight-minute break to close the roof. He was also able to refresh in a 10-minute extra cooling break between the third and fourth sets.
In an evening match in cooler conditions, he was cruising until Darderi lifted his tempo in the third set. Second-ranked Sinner missed match points in the 10th game on his opponent’s serve but then clinched victory 6-1, 6-3, 7-6 (7-2).
Darderi, who saved two match points on his serve, took the first two points of the tiebreaker but then had to pause for a few moments before serving because of a baby crying in the crowd at Margaret Court Arena.
He didn’t win another point, with Sinner reeling off the next seven to triumph in 2 hours and nine minutes.
It extended his unbeaten streak to 18 against other Italians on tour and earned a quarterfinal against No. 8 Ben Shelton or No. 12 Casper Ruud.
“It was very, very difficult. We´re good friends off the court,” Sinner said. “Third set I had some break chances, I couldn´t use them. I got tight, so very happy I closed it in three sets.”
Sinner had 19 aces – a personal record – and no double-faults and said he was satisfied with the work he put into his serve over the offseason.
He also wanted to emphasize some minor changes to his game, including going to the net and trying to mix up his game. In a tough hold in the third set, Sinner saved a breakpoint by changing the direction of the rally with a forehand drop shot, bending his knees low to win the point. He serve-and-volleyed to hold that game.
“Still room to improve, but very happy with how I´ve come back,” he said. “Now for sure, it (the serve) is a bit more stable. I try to go more to the net and being more unpredictable.”