Jessica Pegula ended her Australian Open title defense with an apple pie and cheddar bet as she defeated close friend Madison Keys.
In an all-American match, Pegula needed just 78 minutes to claim an impressive 6-3 6-4 victory and move into the quarterfinals with compatriot Amanda Anisimova, who beat China’s Wang Xinyu later on Monday.
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Keys, the defending champion, hit 26 winners, 12 more than Pegula, but she was undone by 28 unforced errors on Rod Laver Arena.
Not only did Pegula brag in front of her podcast co-hosts, but she also won a bet, which meant Case got to taste something from the Pegula family’s Thanksgiving tradition.
“In America, we have Thanksgiving, I don’t know why, my grandparents are Canadian, but we have this tradition, my mom always had it,” the sixth seed said in an on-court interview.
“Tell me if this is weird or if it’s true. They melt cheddar cheese on apple pie.”
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Keys, who had previously insisted she would not eat the delicacy, admitted defeat and said she would accept the terms of the bet.
“Bets are bets, so I’m going to do it. I hope it’s not as serious as I thought it was, but I guess we’ll find out,” Keys said at the postgame press conference.
If the ninth seed wins its fourth-round game and goes on to defend its title, the bet on Keys’ side involves Pegula — whose billionaire parents own the NFL team the Buffalo Bills — wearing a Kansas City Chiefs jersey.
“She wanted me to wear [Travis] Kelsey scratched Taylor Swift’s Chiefs jersey,” Pegula said. “Honestly, I had a lot of motivation not to wear that today. “
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The 2024 U.S. Open finalist wrote “No Chiefs jersey today” on courtside cameras after his win, and the two chatted and laughed in the locker room after the game.
Keys, who beat Sabalenka in the final at Melbourne Park last year, said she was “still proud of myself” despite withdrawing.
“Coming back and being the defending champion and dealing with all the extra pressure and nerves – I’m really proud of the way I handled it,” she said.