Jessica Pegula avoided wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey as she defeated Madison Keys to end her fellow podcast host's Australian Open title defence. The sixth seed won 6-3 6-4 in the fourth round, reaching the quarter-finals in Melbourne for the fourth time.
Pegula and Keys are close friends who co-host The Player's Box podcast. Before the match they agreed the loser would perform a forfeit. Keys had stipulated that if she won, Pegula, whose parents own the Buffalo Bills, must wear a Chiefs jersey bearing Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift's names. Instead, Pegula's victory means Keys will eat an apple pie topped with melted cheese.
"I had a lot of motivation today," said Pegula. "That was bad. She was, like, 'Mine's worse'. I was, like, 'What are you talking about? My family owns the Bills. This team has owned us in the post-season'. All she has to do is eat a piece of pie." Pegula explained the cheddar-topped pie is a family Thanksgiving tradition. Keys accepted: "A bet is a bet, so I'll do it."
Keys, the defending champion, will drop out of the world's top 10 after her exit but said she was proud of handling the pressure. "It's obviously not the way that I wanted things to end here, but I'm still really proud of myself," she said. Meanwhile, Pegula is yet to drop a set and will face Amanda Anisimova, another American and fourth seed, in the last eight.
Pegula, a US Open runner-up and semi-finalist in the past two seasons, is seeking her first grand slam title. She expressed confidence in her coaching team and said she still feels she is improving at 31. Anisimova is also bidding for her first grand slam title after defeats in the Wimbledon and US Open finals last season.
