Melbourne (AFP) – Jessica Pegula used the threat of having to wear a Taylor Swift-themed Kansas City Chiefs jersey as motivation to propel her past defending champion Madison Keys and into the Australian Open quarter-finals on Monday. The sixth seed dumped out her good friend 6-3, 6-4 and at the same time consigned Keys to having to tuck into apple pie covered in melted cheddar cheese.
The American pair are close off court, sharing a podcast, “The Player’s Box.” They made a wager ahead of their clash on Rod Laver Arena — Keys had to eat the cheesy apple pie if she lost, while Pegula, whose billionaire dad owns the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise, had to wear a Chiefs’ shirt. The Bills and the Chiefs have a long rivalry.
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“My grandparents are Canadian, they have this tradition, my mum always did…they would melt cheddar cheese on their apple pie, so that was my bet for her,” Pegula said. “She wanted me to wear a (Travis) Kelce/Taylor Swift Chiefs’ jersey. So, honestly, I had a lot of motivation today not to wear that.”
Keys reluctantly said she would honour the bet. “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, I guess,” she said. Pegula’s reward, aside from not having to promote the Chiefs, was a clash next with fellow American and 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. Her win 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.
“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.”
Pegula opened with a serve to love then worked two break points as she dictated the early rallies, earning a 2-0 lead and consolidating by holding to take a firm grip on the set. Keys finally woke up to hold serve, but mixed 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.
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 defending champion as Pegula emphatically sent her packing.
© 2024 AFP
