Madison Keys has seen her Australian Open title defence come to an end at the hands of Jessica Pegula.
Keys won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open last year in dramatic fashion, beating Aryna Sabalenka in the final.
As a result, the American came into the 2026 season with a different kind of pressure, with Keys attempting to defend her Australian Open title.
After making it through the first three rounds without dropping a set, Keys faced her close friend Pegula for a place in the quarterfinals.
Madison Keys explains what rare thing happened to her against Jessica Pegula
Not only is Pegula a close friend of Keys, but they also host a podcast together alongside fellow American tennis players Desirae Krawczyk and former Australian Open finalist Jennifer Brady, who is attempting a comeback to tennis.
Prior to their fourth round match at the Australian Open, Keys actually led the head-to-head against Pegula 2-1, which included winning their past two matches.
However, their head-to-head is now level after Pegula beat Keys, 6-3 6-4, to officially bring an end to her title defence.
Keys is one of the more powerful players on the WTA Tour, but it was actually Pegula who dictated many of the points throughout their match.
When asked about this, Keys admitted that she felt under pressure to hit a good shot from the start of the points.
“I think she did a really good job from the start of just being the one that was dictating and in charge,” Keys said in her post-match press conference. “I felt like if I didn’t hit a really good ball immediately, she was in charge of the points.
“I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back. Then I feel like especially in the second set I felt like I had some opportunities to break that I wasn’t super happy with, just kind of quick errors and not playing the best points in big moments.”
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Continuing to be questioned about the match, Keys was asked how rare it is for her to feel a lack of control in points against an opponent.
“I have felt it a bit, obviously when you play some of the people that are just really good ball strikers,” responded Keys. “I felt like it was obviously a clear tactic of Jess’s to try to get ahead in the point early and once she kind of got that control of the point, to keep it.
“I feel like when we play matches, that’s kind of, it’s kind of a game of who can get ahead first and then who can keep it. I felt like she just did a better job today.
“It’s obviously not something that happens to me that often, but I think in the past there has been times where maybe on the first or second ball I would have done a better job at spreading her a little bit more and being able to capitalize on that. I just felt like some of those early balls today, I just didn’t do a good enough job.”
Madison Keys says if it feels more difficult to lose at the Australian Open as defending champion
As previously mentioned, Keys’ title defence at the Australian Open has officially come to an end, with Sabalenka now the only remaining former champion in the draw.
This is the first time that Keys has experienced losing at a Grand Slam as a defending champion, but she claimed it is actually a better position to be in than usual.
“Honestly, I’d say it feels way better losing and still being defending champion, because it means you’ve won,” said Keys. “So, again, it’s not like the world is ending because I lost today.
“Like I said, I have 11 months of the year left, and there is still lots to be proud of, and I’m still going to go out and work on new things and try to implement them in the next tournament.
“Obviously disappointed, but I’m really trying to not live and die on every single win and loss at this point in my career.”
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While she claims not to be impacted by the loss as much as usual, Keys’ ranking will certainly face a setback as she is currently forecasted to fall down to world number 15.
Keys is next scheduled to compete in the Middle East at WTA 1000 tournaments in Doha and Dubai.
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