SYDNEY, Jan. 8 (Xinhua) -- Reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys won a marathon round of 16 match on Thursday by beating Diana Shnaider to advance to the quarterfinals at the Brisbane International.
Keys, the world number seven, fought back from losing the first set and trailing in the second to beat Shnaider 6-7, 7-6, 7-6 in almost three hours on Thursday evening.
It was the first triple-tiebreak match in either player's career and only the 12th in any match on the WTA tour in the 2020s.
Keys, who hit 38 winners, said after winning that she had to figure out how to get herself back into the match.
"It was just really trying to stay in every single point, and I knew if I could give myself an opportunity, if I had the chance, then momentum switches so quickly," she said.
It sets up a quarterfinal between Keys and world number one Aryna Sabalenka on Friday in a rematch of the 2025 Australian Open final.
They will be joined in the quarterfinals by fellow top-10 player Jessica Pegula, who was also victorious in three sets, while the world number three Amanda Anisimova and the 10th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova were knocked out of the Australian Open warm-up event.
Pegula faces off Liudmila Samsonova in the quarterfinals, with Karolina Muchova, who beat Alexandrova in straight sets, facing world number five Elena Rybakina.
Marta Kostyuk, who beats Anisimova 6-4, 6-3 in a late night match, will play Mirra Andreeva, who eliminated Linda Noskova 5-7, 6-4, 7-5. ■
