Jessica Pegula starts Australian Open with win after reaching final in WTA opener
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- Jessica Pegula won her first-round match at the Australian Open in straight sets Monday after tuning up for the Grand Slam tournament with a runner-up finish in her first WTA Tour event of the season.
Pegula, the No. 7 seed, defeated unseeded Australian Maya Joint 6-3, 6-0 to advance to Wednesday's second round, where she will meet Elise Mertens from Belgium.
The 30-year-old Buffalonian whose parents own the Bills and Sabres, Pegula lost in the second round of the Australian Open last year after three consecutive quarterfinal appearances. She finished the 2024 Grand Slam season with a memorable run to the U.S. Open final.
Pegula reached the final of the Adelaide International in South Australia last week before losing 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 against good friend Madison Keys in the title match.
On a busy and warm Day 2, which included nine Grand Slam champions with a combined 43 major trophies in action plus another half-dozen players with runner-up showings, winners included No. 2 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Coco Gauff, and Naomi Osaka among the women, and No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz among the men.
Osaka, who won two of her four major titles in Australia, defeated Caroline Garcia 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 in Monday's last match at Rod Laver Arena.
Noteworthy exits came from two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, and two-time major finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas. Ostapenko's 6-3, 7-6 (6) loss came against Tokyo Olympics gold medalist Belinda Bencic, who is ranked outside the top 400 after returning in October from maternity leave.
***
Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.
The Associated Press contributed reporting.