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Pegula Knocks 2025 Champion Keys Out of Australian Open, Faces Anisimova in Quarterfinals

USA's Jessica Pegula celebrates victory against USA's Madison Keys in their women's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
USA's Jessica Pegula celebrates victory against USA's Madison Keys in their women's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Pegula Knocks 2025 Champion Keys Out of Australian Open, Faces Anisimova in Quarterfinals

USA's Jessica Pegula celebrates victory against USA's Madison Keys in their women's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
USA's Jessica Pegula celebrates victory against USA's Madison Keys in their women's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)

Jessica Pegula knocked podcast pal and defending champion Madison Keys out of the Australian Open on Monday and moved into a quarterfinal against Amanda Anisimova, another all-American match.

Their fourth-round wins on Day 9 meant four Americans reached the women's singles quarterfinals in Australia for the first time since 2001, when Serena and Venus Williams, Jennifer Capriati, Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport made it to the last 8.

“Sucks that one American has to go out in the quarterfinals,” Anisimova said.

Pegula had a slightly different view: “At least one of us will get through, and I think that’s great for American tennis.”

“Yeah, it’s been pretty crazy how well the women have been doing and how many top-ranked girls there are," she added. "I’m just happy to be a part of that conversation.”

Pegula and Anisimova advanced a day after No. 3 Coco Gauff and 18-year-old Iva Jovic earned their places on the other side of the draw.

Pegula's 6-3, 6-4 win at Rod Laver Arena ended Keys' first Grand Slam title defense in a tough section of the draw.

Anisimova, runner-up at the last two majors in Wimbledon and the US Open, advanced 7-6 (4), 6-4 over Wang Xinyu as the temperature started rising at Melbourne Park, and organizers triggered the heat stress policy which allowed for extra cooling breaks.

Pegula is into the quarterfinals for the fourth time in Australia but has never previously gone beyond that round at the season-opening major.

“I have been seeing, hitting, moving, I feel like very well this whole tournament, and to be able to keep that up against such a great player as Maddie and defending champion was going to be a lot tougher of a task today,” Pegula said, “I was still able to do that really well.”

Pegula and Keys had played three times previously, and Keys had won the last two. But on Monday it was Pegula who dominated, racing to 4-1 leads in both sets.

“I felt like if I didn’t hit a really good ball immediately, she was in charge of the points," Keys said. “I was kind of struggling to kind of get that dominance back.”

Pegula's best performance in a major was making the US Open final in 2024, where she lost to Aryna Sabalenka. The top-ranked Sabalenka is aiming for a third title in four years.

No. 5 Elena Rybakina, the runner-up to Sabalenka here in 2023, advanced over Elise Mertens 6-1, 6-3.

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Zverev Plays ‘Two Games at Once’ as Diabetes Clock Ticks Under Australian Open Run

Alexander Zverev of Germany celebrates after defeating Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP)
Alexander Zverev of Germany celebrates after defeating Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP)
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Zverev Plays ‘Two Games at Once’ as Diabetes Clock Ticks Under Australian Open Run

Alexander Zverev of Germany celebrates after defeating Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP)
Alexander Zverev of Germany celebrates after defeating Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (AP)

On tennis's biggest stages, Alexander Zverev plays by the arena's timing, the serve clock and the changeover, while a quieter countdown of his blood sugar runs beneath the ​noise.

"There are definitely two games happening at the same time: there's the match everyone sees and then there's the one only I feel," Zverev told Reuters recently, describing life with type 1 diabetes.

"If I don't manage my diabetes properly, I can't compete at the level I expect."

The German third seed will play Learner Tien on Tuesday for a place in the semi-finals, a ‌year after ‌losing the decider in Melbourne to Jannik ‌Sinner.

The ⁠28-year-old ​world ‌number three has won an Olympic gold medal, two ATP Finals titles and reached three Grand Slam finals but is still without the major trophy he craves.

Diagnosed with diabetes at four, he says the condition is not a hurdle so much as a second match running under the first, one that punishes haste and rewards routine.

"Most of ⁠the time it's preparation that keeps them aligned," he said. "When something unexpected happens, I've ‌learned to stay calm and trust the ‍systems I have in place."

That ‍second match is mostly hidden, he said, managed in the ‍quiet gaps between points and changeovers.

"Probably something as simple as when to take a sip from my bottle or choose to have an energy gel.

"From the outside it just looks like a routine changeover but I'm ​already planning my next change of ends."

Away from matches, he uses a Medtronic insulin pump, a wearable device that ⁠delivers measured insulin to help regulate glucose, but he cannot wear it during competition.

His career has also drawn scrutiny beyond results.

He settled a case last year over allegations he pushed and strangled a former girlfriend, which he denied, and the ATP later dropped another probe citing insufficient evidence.

On court, Zverev's attention turns to seemingly insignificant decisions that fans would never notice, choices tied to managing diabetes alongside the tennis score.

"These are tiny decisions, but they matter," he said.

"You don't need to stop the match or make a big moment ‌out of it. It's about staying one step ahead so the tennis can stay in the focus."

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Lindsey Vonn Defies the Odds to Chase Olympic Dream

US' Lindsey Vonn smiles after the podium ceremony of the Women's Super G event of FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Tarvisio, Italy on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
US' Lindsey Vonn smiles after the podium ceremony of the Women's Super G event of FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Tarvisio, Italy on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
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Lindsey Vonn Defies the Odds to Chase Olympic Dream

US' Lindsey Vonn smiles after the podium ceremony of the Women's Super G event of FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Tarvisio, Italy on January 18, 2026. (AFP)
US' Lindsey Vonn smiles after the podium ceremony of the Women's Super G event of FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup in Tarvisio, Italy on January 18, 2026. (AFP)

US ski star Lindsey Vonn has defied age and injury to make one of the most remarkable comebacks in Olympic history, the latest chapter in a storied career of memorable highs and crushing setbacks.

Vonn, 41, is one of the most recognizable faces in women's sport, let alone alpine skiing.
She has been on the cover of Time magazine and Sports Illustrated and was a one-time girlfriend of golfer Tiger Woods, bringing attention that made her instantly visible to a wider audience than winter sports enthusiasts.

That visibility, allied with charity work and a savvy social media presence, has seamlessly combined with an enviable sporting prowess to bring her three Olympic medals -- including one gold -- eight world championship medals (two gold) and four overall World Cup overall titles.

Vonn will be in her fifth decade when she takes to the slope of Cortina d'Ampezzo next month for her fifth Olympics.

She retired after the 2019 world championships in Are but made what she dubbed a "crazy" comeback last winter.

That retirement was prompted by the chronic pain brought on by the wear and tear of decades of elite skiing -- she made her Olympic debut as a fresh-faced 17-year-old at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games and won downhill gold in 2010.

A partial titanium knee replacement in April 2024 dramatically changed her outlook.

It allowed her not only to return, pain-free, to competitive skiing after a six-year hiatus, but also to roll back the years, exceeding expectations by challenging -- and sometimes besting -- the top racers on the circuit.

- World Cup success -

Vonn has made the podium seven times this season, winning downhills in St. Moritz and Zauchensee to take her overall World Cup tally of victories to 84.

Only current teammate Mikaela Shiffrin, with 108, and ex-Swedish slalom specialist Ingemar Stenmark (86) have more wins.

The victory in St. Moritz was Vonn's first since March 2018 and it made her the oldest World Cup race winner in history, at 41.

"This might be the best and most meaningful win of my career!! Don't ever stop believing in yourself!!" Vonn, who won her first World Cup race in December 2004, said afterwards.

"I'm a pretty stubborn and driven person. I have an intense amount of competitiveness in me, it's just how I'm wired, so I'm thankful I have that ability."

In a sport where personalities do not always loom large, Vonn has well and truly transcended that divide, even endearing herself to a large fanbase in the central European skiing hotbeds of Austria and Switzerland with her fluency in German.

In October she appeared on Time's cover, under the title "The Comeback".

"I'm just a girl from Minnesota who wanted to ski fast, but this cover means I've done a lot more in my life than just ski fast," she told the magazine.

"I'm still chasing dreams, still pushing limits, still believing in what's possible. My hope is that anyone reading this remembers: never give up on yourself."

- 'Fantastic' comeback -

Vonn, now coached by ex-Norwegian racer Aksel Lund Svindal, will head to Cortina in the knowledge that she likes the course.

She has won 12 times there, her first victory coming in the downhill in January 2008. To give that some context, German rival Emma Aicher was four years old at the time.

"No one's expectations are higher than my own, so I try to keep everything in perspective," said the American, who was born in Minnesota but resettled in Vail with her family in her early teens.

"I know I'm going to have a lot of emotion in Cortina -- it's going to be a matter of controlling it."

Johan Eliasch, head of the International Ski Federation (FIS), said Vonn's presence in Cortina was "great for the Olympics".

"With her knee, I mean, any doctor would have said, 'You've got to be crazy doing a knee replacement and coming back'. But against all odds, she came back. And that's fantastic," he said.

Coach Svindal, himself a two-time Olympic gold medalist, added that his expectations of Vonn were high.

"She almost never makes mistakes now, she's so balanced and looking really good."

Sports

Taylor Fritz Struggles with Injury in Loss to Lorenzo Musetti at Australian Open

USA's Taylor Fritz hits a return to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their men's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
USA's Taylor Fritz hits a return to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their men's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
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Taylor Fritz Struggles with Injury in Loss to Lorenzo Musetti at Australian Open

USA's Taylor Fritz hits a return to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their men's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)
USA's Taylor Fritz hits a return to Italy's Lorenzo Musetti during their men's singles match on day nine of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2026. (AFP)

Taylor Fritz’s Australian Open ended in a grueling physical struggle on Monday as he was beaten 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 by fifth-seeded Lorenzo Musetti.

While it marked a milestone for Musetti, for the No. 9-seeded Fritz, the fourth-round match signaled that his body may have reached its limit.

The 2024 US Open runner-up revealed in a post-match news conference that he had arrived in Melbourne in two minds about his fitness, and had nearly withdrawn because of knee and abdominal issues.

“I was fully ready to shut it down for a couple of months to get it better,” Fritz said, adding that he'd told his team: “If it stays how it is, we are just going to have to stop. I can’t play through this.”

His physiotherapist had different ideas.

“My physio, who is great and I trust him, he said that he thinks there’s a pretty solid chance that we can do all the rehab protocol and do everything we need to do while I’m still playing,” Fritz said.

After feeling discomfort in his third-round win over 40-year-old Stan Wawrinka, a much sterner test against world No. 5 Musetti proved too much.

Despite feeling “very good” in his warmup, albeit with his torso heavily strapped to help his obliques, Fritz said painkillers failed to bridge the gap.

“I thought they would maybe kick in. It didn’t do anything,” he said. "A lot of my mistakes came from me pulling up, not feeling like I’m loading my knee hard enough."

Retiring from the match wasn't really a consideration.

“Most of the time when I’m playing through an injury, I can just go on the court and just not think about it and just, like, play and get into the match,” Fritz said. "I just could not today.

"I’m not the kind of person that pulls out. Especially in the second set, I was just really hoping I could get something going."

The 28-year-old Fritz said he's hoping he can play the tournament in Dallas, but will have to wait and see how his body recovers.

“I don’t know why my knee got so much worse kind of in the last three days,” he said. "It was feeling really good through my first two rounds and all the practices before that.

“I don’t know if it’s just the overload of playing physical three, four sets, stuff like that. But you know, I have some more time to heal it. I feel like (if) I keep up with the rehab, it’s going to keep getting better.”