American Pegula dethrones defending champ Keys; joins Amanda, Coco and Iva in quarters

After a very long gap of 25 years, four Americans reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open 2026 in Melbourne. Jessica Pegula and Amanda Anisimova on Monday joined compatriots Coco Gauff and Iva Jovic in the last eight to make it four Americans out of the eight players in quarterfinals.

Pegula pulled off the biggest upset when she defeated another American and defending Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-3, 6-4, while last year’s Wimbledon and US Open runner-up Anisimova fought off China’s in-form Wang Xinyu 7-6(4), 6-4.

It is the first time four Americans have reached the quarterfinals since 2001, when Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport all lined up at the same stage.

Pegula ended good friend and her Players’ Box podcast co-host Keys’ title defence to continue her smooth passage into a fourth quarterfinal in Melbourne. The No.6 seed has dropped only 17 games so far and afterwards revealed the two close friends had upped the ante on Day 9 with a small side bet.

“[If I lost] she wanted me to wear a Kelsey-slash-Taylor Swift [Kansas City] Chiefs jersey so honestly I had a lot of motivation today not to wear that,” joked Pegula, whose father owns the Buffalo Bills NFL team.

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Americans guaranteed of at least one semifinalist

The Americans are now guaranteed at least one semifinalist, as Pegula and Anisimova will now meet in the next round.

With a one-sided win for No.2 seed Iga Swiatek over Aussie qualifier Maddison Inglis 6-0, 6-3, and fifth seed Elena Rybakina outplaying Belgian Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-3, the top six seeds in the women’s and men’s singles are all safely into the last eight at a major for the first time in the Open Era.

Rod Laver Arena was jam-packed with fans excited to see an Australian woman in the fourth round for the first time since Ash Barty won the tournament in 2022. Despite the overwhelmingly partisan crowd cheering Inglis’ every point, the six-time Grand Slam winner was never going to be overawed by the occasion.

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Swiatek dictated play from the back of the court from the outset, immediately breaking serve as Inglis struggling to deal with the Pole’s trademark topspin-heavy forehands.

Swiatek and Rybakina will battle in an intriguing quarterfinal clash on Wednesday.

Amanda Anisimova fought off China’s in-form Wang Xinyu 7-6(4), 6-4 to enter quarterfinals. She will meet compatriot Jessica Pegula

Italian men make headlines

While those representing the Stars and Stripes shone in the women’s draw, it was the Italians creating headlines in the men’s with wins for Jannik Sinner and No.5 seed Lorenzo Musetti.

After the cramping drama during his third-round match on Saturday, 2024 and 2025 champion Sinner got things back on track to make it 18 Australian Open wins in a row by beating another Italian, Luciano Darderi, 6-1, 6-3, 7-6(2).

Musetti was impressive during a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 passage against ninth seed Taylor Fritz, who admittedly was managing a knee injury and an abdominal strain during their Rod Laver Arena contest.

Musetti can go as high as No.3 in the rankings depending on results this week, and has now reached at least the quarterfinals at all four majors. He now prepares for a meeting with Novak Djokovic. The 10-time champion Djokovic went through on Sunday without striking a ball when his Czech fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik withdrew from the tournament with an injury.

Late on, Ben Shelton scored yet another Australian Open win to beat Norway’s parent-in-waiting Casper Ruud in a tough four-set battle. The American southpaw recovered from losing the opener to move into his third quarterfinal in four appearances 6-3, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.

His reward is another meeting with second seed Sinner at the foot of the draw after the Italian stopped Shelton at the semifinal stage 12 months ago.