Pegula picks up the Bills' grit

MELBOURNE • Jessica Pegula yesterday said she was inspired by the Buffalo Bills' run to the National Football League play-offs after beating a top-10 player for the first time to make her maiden Grand Slam quarter-final.

The unseeded American, whose billionaire father Terry owns the Bills, has been in scintillating form at Melbourne Park, and that continued yesterday as she overwhelmed Ukrainian fifth seed Elina Svitolina 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

It set up a last-eight clash with compatriot Jennifer Brady, who beat Croat Donna Vekic 6-1, 7-5, tomorrow and Pegula is planning to draw on that same well of inspiration. "It's definitely something I think I tried to take into my game a little bit, even watching the team getting that grit, that competitive attitude, having that mindset," she said of the Bills.

"In tennis, it's like 90 per cent sometimes of the matches. I think it's been really cool to watch them and kind of channel that energy into how I've been doing."

Pegula's tycoon father, who made his money in natural gas, took over the Bills in 2014, outbidding rival suitors, former US president Donald Trump and rock star Jon Bon Jovi.

They made the American Football Conference Championship game last month but were pipped to the Super Bowl by the Kansas City Chiefs, who went on to lose in the showpiece final to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this month.

Her parents remain her biggest fans and Pegula wrote "Hi mum and dad" on the TV camera after winning her latest match.

"They've been obviously the main support system my whole life... They're happy he (dad) got a shout-out today. They're really happy," said the world No. 61, whose third-round appearance at last year's US Open had been the furthest she had previously advanced at a Slam.

Making only her second appearance here, Pegula took out former world No. 1 and 12th seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the opening round before dropping just four games in her next two matches.

Svitolina had won in straight sets when the pair met at Abu Dhabi last month but the 26-year-old, who missed most of 2017 with a hip injury that forced her to consider retirement, prevailed to level their head-to-head record at 1-1.

For Svitolina, 26, it was yet again another disappointing end to a Major. The world No. 5, whose 2019 WTA Finals triumph in Singapore remains her career highlight, has been beaten by opponents ranked outside the top 25 in the past three Slams.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Ashleigh Barty stormed into the last eight with a 6-3, 6-4 win over American Shelby Rogers.

Barty, aiming to become the first Australian champion since Chris O'Neil in 1978, plays Czech 25th seed Karolina Muchova in the quarter-finals tomorrow. She has an excellent chance to go one better than her semi-final appearance last year as Brady is the next highest seed in her bracket at 22nd.

While the 2019 French Open winner is not looking past Muchova, who she said is "a hell of a player", the favourite has designs on her second Grand Slam, insisting after her victory that "we're not done yet".

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