Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula are scheduled to face off at the Australian Open on Monday.
The two Americans, seeded sixth and ninth respectively, have met just three times before on the WTA Tour.
Keys, last year’s winner in Melbourne, has reached the fourth round with wins over Oleksandra Olijnykowa, Ashlyn Krueger, and Karolina Pliskova.
Pegula, still searching for her first Grand Slam singles title, advanced with victories against Anastasia Zakharova, McCartney Kessler and Oxana Olegovna Selechmetyeva.
Lindsay Davenport spoke about what could decide the match between Keys and Pegula at this year’s tournament.
Lindsay Davenport says the Madison Keys’ ‘first strike tennis’ is crucial in her match against Jessica Pegula
Martina Navratilova, who won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, started the discussion by pointing out that Keys has better shotmaking ability than Pegula.
“I think it’s a matter of whether Pegula is as aggressive as she was in these first few matches,” Navratilova said on the Tennis Channel. “If she can take time away from Maddy, she’s got a shot at it, obviously with the bigger weapons.
“We’ll see how they do in the day but still, the match is still on Maddy’s racket because she’s the one that can hit you.” Lindsay Davenport added to this by sharing how enjoyable it is to watch two friends face off.
“It’s so fun to watch these kind of matchups because these two: very good friends, practise together all the time, played so many times,” she said.
“It’s like they each know what the other one’s going to do. So who does it first? Who can execute better?”
Davenport went further into her analysis by saying that if Keys manages to play ‘first strike tennis’, then she should have enough firepower to deal with whatever Pegula throws at her.
Davenport also explained how Pegula has tools of her own and explained exactly what she needs to do against such an explosive player.
Madison Keys and Jessica Pegula’s head-to-head
Madison Keys currently leads the head-to-head between them, having won two of their three previous meetings.
Pegula came out on top in their first match, a straight-sets win at the 2022 San Diego Open. But Keys took the next two, starting with a dominant win at the US Open in 2023, where she reached the semi-finals before falling to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets.
The most recent encounter came at the 2025 Adelaide Open final, with Keys again coming through in three sets.
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