Melbourne, Australia — defending champion madison keys Survived the tough challenge of the second set on Thursday but was overtaken by fellow American ashlyn kruger Reached the third round of Australian Open 6-1, 7-5.
After winning the first set, ninth-seeded Keys fell behind 5–2 in the second set, but rallied to win at John Cain Arena.
In another preliminary match between two American women, the sixth seeds jessica pegula defeated 6-0, 6-2 McCartney KesslerHis doubles partner.
Two more American women will face off in the third round. number 4 amanda anisimovaRunner-up at last two major tournaments, lost to doubles champion katerina siniakova 6-1, 6-4 in the noisy atmosphere of Margaret Court Arena and the next match will be against fellow American Peyton Stearns.
Keys faced a double break in the second set before rallying to defeat Krueger.
“I think I started really well and Ashlyn started a little slow,” Keys said. “And then I was fully expecting her to raise her level, which she did. It got away from me a little bit quickly.”
Keys said she tried to get back to basics, hoping to at least prepare herself for the deciding third set.
Instead, he took another.
“That’s all I wanted, even if I lost [second] Sets, make sure I tried to get back into the set and try to figure out where my game went and be able to get some more points on the board,” Keys said. “Once I got the momentum back, I just tried to go all out in the set and do everything I could to get back into it.”
Keys will next face the former No. 1-ranked player Karolina PliskovaWho won 6-4, 6-4 janice teigen Of Indonesia. Pliskova played just three matches last year as she recovered from ankle surgery following the 2024 US Open.
Pegula’s next match will be oksana selekhmetevawho troubled number 25 Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-4. Badosa were semi-finalists in Australia last year.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
