Australian Open defending champion Madison Keys raised her game in the Melbourne Park heat to beat Karolina Pliskova 6-3, 6-3 and reach the fourth round.
American Jessica Pegula defeated compatriot and defending champion Madison Keys to make the Australian Open quarter-finals.
Madison Keys fought through a leg injury to beat Jessica Pegula
The opening Grand Slam of the year begins at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Jannik Sinner was in ominous form on the Rod Laver Arena court he has ruled for two years before the match was cut short.
Keys, who captured her first Grand Slam title at the tournament last year, said she was still getting used to the surreal experience of seeing herself immortalised around Melbourne Park.
Aryna Sabalenka fell 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to Elena Rybakina on Saturday, the Russia-born Kazakh turning the tables on the Belarusian who beat her for the 2023 title.
Madison Keys is the second-oldest woman to claim her first Australian Open singles title in the Open era.
Sabalenka primed for Rybakina rematch with eyes on third Australian Open crown
Elena Rybakina held her nerve to outlast world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in a thrilling Australian Open 2026 women's singles final at Rod Laver Arena on Saturday.
The four-times Grand Slam champion, who is eyeing her third Australian Open trophy when the tournament begins on January 18 at Melbourne Park, was pushed harder in the next set but edged ahead again at 5-4 to wrap up the win on serve.
The day session attendance of 51,048 was some 10,000 short of day six on Friday and even less than last year's corresponding session.
World number one Aryna Sabalenka enters the Australian Open in her familiar role as the hot favourite but unlike in the past two years the powerful Belarusian arrives without a title to defend or the momentum of a winning run in Melbourne.
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park in Melbourne on Thursday.
The Australian Open will offer a record A$111.5 million ($74.73 million) in prize money this year and while players welcomed the increase, top names like Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka said the push for a bigger payout must continue across the Grand Slams.
Tough road for defending champion Keys
Elena Rybakina put on a brilliant performance to defeat favourite Aryna Sabalenka 64, 46, 64 and lift her first Australian Open trophy.
Top trio eye Grand Slam glory with Sabalenka targeting third Australian Open crown
Iga Swiatek heads into Melbourne Park with the Australian Open title the only gap on her Grand Slam resume, but the world number two is keen to avoid setting herself targets for the new season and says her main goal is to improve her game.
Good things come to those who wait as the saying goes -- but Madison Keys's wait may have seemed interminable.
While off-court battles over pay and governance rumbled on, opportunities were scarce beyond the duopoly at the top of the men's game, leaving Djokovic to provide the year's standout moments for the chasing pack.
Aryna Sabalenka exemplified consistency in 2025 and arrives for the November 1-8 tournament having retained her US Open title in September, after finishing runner-up to Madison Keys at the Australian Open and Coco Gauff at Roland Garros.
Elena Rybakina qualified for the WTA Finals' last four, beating an error-prone Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 on Monday, while Amanda Anisimova beat fellow American Madison Keys 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Riyadh.
Elena Rybakina stayed unbeaten at the WTA Finals in Riyadh with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over second alternate Ekaterina Alexandrova on Wednesday after Madison Keys withdrew from their final round robin meeting with illness and Mirra Andreeva was not fit to play.
Elena Rybakina rallied from a set down to beat Russian fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-2 and win the Ningbo Open title on Sunday, as her late surge to reach next month's WTA Finals gained momentum.
Renata Zarazua, the only Mexican player in the US Open main draw, pulled off a stunning upset by beating sixth seed Madison Keys in the first round.
Players from the Philippines and Hong Kong will be on the schedule for the second round of a Grand Slam for the first time this week, as the U.S. Open sees the impact of an increasingly global game.
Defending champion Jannik Sinner, who has been recovering from illness, received a more favourable route to the US Open final than Carlos Alcaraz while Aryna Sabalenka will be tested in her bid to retain her title after the draw was made on Thursday.
Iga Swiatek arrives at the US Open with her sights set on a seventh Grand Slam title and a potential return to World No. 1 to cap what she calls a remarkable year of redemption following "the worst experience of my life".
Tenth seed Lorenzo Musetti rallied from a set down to beat Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in the first round of the US Open on Tuesday even as Carlos Alcaraz mauled big-serving American Reilly Opelka and veteran Venus Williams made an emotional exit.
Madison Keys fought off a late challenge from fellow American Hailey Baptiste to book her spot in the French Open quarter-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 victory at Roland Garros on Monday.
Aryna Sabalenka returns to the US Open as the reigning champion and bookmakers' favourite, but her 2025 season has been anything but smooth sailing.
-German veteran Tatjana Maria defied the odds to move into the biggest final of her career when she stunned second seed and Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-3, 7-6(3) at the Queen's Club Championships on Saturday.
Sabalenka relied on her trademark powerful serve to hold firm in the key moments, winning two tiebreaks to take her tally to 18 for the season, the most by any women's singles player in the professional era.
Eugenie Bouchard's best year was 2014 when she reached the semi-finals of the French and Australian Opens, and the final of Wimbledon.
Fritz, Shelton lead American charge at US Open with first-round wins
It marks Osaka's first WTA 1000 semi-final since Miami in 2022, as the Japanese former world number one needed just over an hour to secure victory over the 10th seeded Svitolina.
Sabalenka, Keys reach Wimbledon third round with contrasting victories.
Iga Swiatek was the latest top player to suffer an upset loss in Montreal as the Wimbledon champion
Carlos Alcaraz, who advanced to the last eight in Cincinnati for the third time, has now won 36 of his last 38 matches.
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