Pegula beats heat to sweep into last 16 at Australian OpenMELBOURNE, Jan 24, 2026 (BSS/AFP) - Dominant sixth seed Jessica Pegula powered past unseeded Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva and into the last 16 at the Australian Open Saturday as she eyes a deep run at the season-opening Grand Slam. "Nice to be first out on court and not a super long match and didn't need to kill myself in the heat today," she said. Pegula grabbed a break in game five of the first set with a forehand winner to take charge and never relented, with the Russian making 16 unforced errors. The decisive break in the second set came in game six, with another slew of errors from Selekhmeteva leading to her downfall. Pegula is into a Grand Slam last 16 for the 11th time but she has only pushed on to a final once before, in 2024 at the US Open when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka.

Source: Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha January 24, 2026 05:03 UTC