Pegula ends Keys title defence to win 'gross' apple pie bet
Jessica Pegula ends Madison Keys’ Australian Open title defence to reach the quarter-finals and win a “gross” apple pie bet.
Jessica Pegula ends Madison Keys’ Australian Open title defence to reach the quarter-finals and win a “gross” apple pie bet.
Lorenzo Musetti downed fellow Top 10 star Taylor Fritz on Monday at the Australian Open, where the Italian is into his fourth major quarter-final and first in Melbourne.
Combining elite court coverage with his blistering shotmaking, Musetti scored a 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 victory inside Rod Laver Arena to seal a set of quarter-final appearances at the four Slams.
Musetti’s Career-Best Result At Each Major
| Major Tournament | Best Result |
| Australian Open | QFs (2026)* |
| Roland Garros | SFs (2025) |
| Wimbledon | SFs (2024) |
| US Open | QFs (2025) |
*Active
“I think today [my serve] was really working well,” said Musetti, who struck 13 aces and won 84 per cent of his first-serve points. “I think I made one of my best performances in aces in my career so far, so I’m really, really happy.
“When I finished last season pretty late, the goals were to start well this year, because I’d never surpassed the first week here. Making the final in Hong Kong, winning doubles in Hong Kong [with Lorenzo Sonego] and now being in the quarter-finals, for me, it’s really a dream.”
The fifth seed has earned a clash against record 10-time champion Novak Djokovic, who reached the last eight after Czech Jakub Mensik withdrew due to an abdominal muscle injury. Djokovic leads Musetti 9-1 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series, and will enter Wednesday’s meeting on a six-match winning streak against the Italian.
Two days removed from playing a four-hour, 27-minute five-set battle against Tomas Machac, Musetti showed no obvious signs of fatigue under the afternoon sun. Musetti opened his shoulders and dictated play from the baseline, crushing 33 winners and using his heavy top-spin forehand to draw errors from Fritz.
[NO 1 CLUB]The American struggled early to land his usually reliable serve, finishing the first set with a 42 per cent first-serve percentage, according to Infosys Stats. Though Fritz found more rhythm behind his delivery as the match wore on, he was unable to make inroads on return (0/2 on break points).
Sporting k-tape on both his left and right oblique areas, Fritz called for the physio at 3-2 in the second set. Musetti, a two-time tour-level titlist, broke Fritz to love at 5-5 later that set, allowing him to serve for a two-sets-to-love advantage. Musetti again broke Fritz in the opening game of the third set and rarely looked back, clinching victory after two hours and three minutes. Musetti kept his cool when serving for the match, landing three deft drop shots en route to holding to love.
“I definitely improved my serve a lot and especially trying to be more aggressive with the forehand and trying to use my variation to lead the game,” Musetti said when asked about adjustments he’s made to improve on hard courts. “Like today, with the forehand trying to open the court and make the opponent move. I think before, I was starting to play too far and I was a little too passive on the rally.
“My coach always keeps telling me to be a little more aggressive and try to go for it, take the lead of the rally. That’s what I did today.”
Musetti is competing at a career-high No. 5 in the PIF ATP Rankings this fortnight. Last year, he posted a career-best 45 tour-level match wins and competed at the year-end Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. With his latest win, Musetti improved to 4-3 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Fritz, who beat the Italian in Turin in November. The Italian’s victory marked his first hard-court win against Fritz.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Here to stay 😤
Lorenzo Musetti defeats Fritz 6-2, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time.@AustralianOpen | #AO26 pic.twitter.com/DYXdTDropk
— ATP Tour (@atptour) January 26, 2026
Australian Maddison Inglis has gone from saving match points in qualifying to a “life-changing” meeting with Iga Swiatek in her home Grand Slam.
Alcaraz’s evolving serve and De Minaur’s next step
A straight-set win over American seed Tommy Paul takes world number one Carlos Alcaraz into a 14th Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic moves through to the Australian Open quarter-finals as fourth-round opponent Jakub Mensik pulls out with an abdominal injury.
World number one Carlos Alcaraz describes his serve as an “important weapon” as he continues his serene run to the Australian Open quarter-finals.
When Daniil Medvedev stepped onto court on Sunday to face Learner Tien in the fourth round of the Australian Open, he was perfect on the season, holding an 8–0 record according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.
A little more than 90 minutes later, however, the first blemish on his 2026 scorecard had been firmly marked. The former three-time finalist in Melbourne had few answers for Tien, who delivered a commanding 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 victory. Still, when reflecting on the defeat, the 29-year-old Medvedev was keen to keep perspective.
“I think I should focus more in general. If we take the past eight tournaments, starting from US Open, I played great,” Medvedev said. “I beat a lot of players. I played great against some top players. In general, I was going far in the results. Even here, I won two very tough matches against opponents who played well, [Quentin] Halys and Fabian [Marozsan].
“So I should try not to focus on this exact match, which was not good, because he outplayed me, so that’s not a good feeling. But I should focus more on the general picture and just continue working the way I did for the last tournaments. If I manage to play good, beat all the players I have beaten in all these tournaments, I can get to where I want. Of course, it’s unfortunate to finish a Grand Slam like this when I was feeling well and confident, but it is what it is.”
After a somewhat testing 18 months, Medvedev has looked closer to his best since the start of the Asian swing in September. The former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, now coached by Thomas Johansson and Rohan Goetzke, has won recent titles in Almaty and Brisbane and earned Top 10 victories against Alexander Zverev and Alex de Minaur.
However, he has now lost three of his four Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings against the 20-year-old Tien, who also defeated Medvedev in Melbourne last year. Despite his frustrations with Sunday’s match, Medvedev was full of praise for the reigning Next Gen ATP Finals champion.
“He played great, super-aggressive. Even when I was making good shots, he was making a better shot back,” Medvedev said. “I didn’t find many solutions today on the court, which is rare, and I didn’t feel that many times in my life like this.
“But, again, these things can happen. He had an unbelievable match where everything went in. It did happen to me as well a couple of times, and you even kind of feel sorry for your opponent, because, okay, I can go for tweener now and probably with closed eyes and make it. It happens. I should have done maybe something a little bit better to try to disturb this rhythm of his.”
Medvedev is next scheduled to play at the ATP 500 event in Rotterdam, where he won the title in 2023.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Jakub Mensik has withdrawn from the Australian Open due to an abdominal muscle injury, giving Novak Djokovic a walkover into the quarter-finals.
“After doing everything we could to keep going, I have to withdraw from the Australian Open due to an abdominal muscle injury that has progressed over the last matches,” Mensik said. “Even though I’m disappointed, making the fourth round here for the first time is something I will carry with me for a long time.
“I felt so much energy from the fans and the atmosphere in Melbourne was truly special.”
[NO 1 CLUB]After battling past former Top-10 star Pablo Carreno Busta in five sets in the first round, Mensik beat Rafael Jodar and Ethan Quinn in straight sets. But he will not take the court for what would have been a rematch of the 2025 Miami final, won by Mensik.
Djokovic will take on fifth seed Lorenzo Musetti or ninth seed Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals. The 10-time Australian Open champion is pursuing his 25th major trophy.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Learner Tien delivered a resounding statement on Sunday at the Australian Open, where he produced a scintillating performance to dismiss three-time finalist Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 6-0, 6-3 and become the youngest men’s singles quarter-finalist at the major since Nick Kyrgios in 2015.
The 20-year-old’s victory marked the latest chapter in a rapidly developing rivalry. Twelve months ago in Melbourne, then World No. 121 Tien stunned Medvedev in a five-set second-round epic. That win proved a launchpad, with Tien later defeating the former World No. 1 again en route to his maiden tour-level final in Beijing.
This time in Melbourne, however, there was little drama. After a competitive opening set, clinched by the 20-year-old with a whipped forehand winner down the line, Tien seized complete control. He reeled off 12 of the next 15 games of the match, closing out victory in just one hour and 39 minutes with a stunning backhand pass.
“It feels amazing, it is so special to do it here,” Tien said on reaching his first major tour-level quarter-final. “It is so special to come back here and play every year and it was a big goal of mine [to play well here] and I am super happy.
“Every year since I have come here the crowd support has been amazing. I don’t know why, but every year it has been so special to come back and have a crowd like this, with so much energy. It means the world to me.”
Medvedev arrived in Melbourne in good form, having lifted his 22nd tour-level title in Brisbane earlier this month and posting three solid wins to reach the fourth round of the hard-court major for the sixth time. But he was unable to match Tien from the baseline, as the 25th seed dictated play with superior consistency, aggression and authority. Tien finished with a 33-16 winners-to-unforced errors count, compared to Medvedev, who was 15-30 across the same metrics.
Fresh from capturing the Next Gen ATP Finals crown in Jeddah last month, Tien has continued his rapid ascent in Melbourne and is up to No. 24 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings. Tien is the youngest American to reach the quarter-finals at a major since 2002 and will hope to continue his journey against Alexander Zverev.
[NO 1 CLUB]The American will meet Zverev on Tuesday after the German overcame Francisco Cerundolo. Zverev lost his first three meetings against Cerundolo but has since won their past three encounters, with their Head2Head series level at 3-3.
The No. 3 player in the PIF ATP Rankings showed no sign of those earlier Cerundolo struggles on John Cain Arena, where he cruised past Cerundolo 6–2, 6–4, 6–4 in two hours and 12 minutes.
Zverev has now reached the Australian Open quarter-finals for the fifth time, moving past Boris Becker for the most last-eight appearances at the tournament by a German man. However, he is still seeking to convert deep runs into major glory. Last year, the World No. 3 reached the final at Melbourne Park for the first time.
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