Keys, 30, and Pegula, 31, are obviously very familiar with each other off the court. They’ve been riding the same junior and pro circuits for more than half of their lives. Now, after all of that time and all of those air miles, each finds herself at, or near, the peak of her powers. Pegula is the sixth seed; Keys is ninth. Keys is defending her first and only Grand Slam title, while Pegula has been creeping closer to major number one for a few years now. Neither has dropped a set in her first three matches.
But while they know each other well as people, they haven’t played the role of opponents all that often. In a decade and a half, they’ve only faced off three times. All three matches were on hard courts, and Keys won the last two, including a three-setter in the Adelaide final a year ago.
“I kind of need to figure out some things that I need to do different against her, because I’ve lost the last couple times,” Pegula says. “She’s the type of player, when she’s on, she can beat anybody. We know that.”
In general, Keys is the puncher and Pegula the counterpuncher. They both hit a fairly flat ball, but Keys hits it harder. In Adelaide last January, Pegula’s shots fed into Keys’ and gave her the type of pace and height that allows her to comfortably tee off. Pegula has worked on a backhand slice in recent years, and that may help. She’ll also want to keep Keys moving sideline to sideline as much as possible. Pegula, as she has shown in her close matches with Aryna Sabalenka recently, has the ability to increase her own pace as a match progresses, and hold her own with bigger hitters.
