Bitter-sweet as Pegula crushes doubles partner at Australian Open
Sixth seed Pegula, who made the last eight at Melbourne Park in 2021, 2022 and 2023, blasted past her fellow American 6-0, 6-2 on Rod Laver Arena.
Her reward is a third-round clash with unseeded Russian Oksana Selekhmeteva who bundled out last year's semi-finalist Paula Badosa 6-4, 6-4.
It was a bitter-sweet victory for the 31-year-old, with Kessler a friend and on-court partner.
"Always tricky when you have to play someone that you know and that you like and also that you're playing doubles with," she said.
"That part was kind of just unfortunate, I guess, because, you know, we obviously want to see each other do well separately in singles, not when we have to play each other."
The pair lost in the doubles first round on Wednesday to Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani.
Despite not being happy with knocking out a friend, Pegula was pleased with her level as she looks to better her best Grand Slam performance -- making the US Open final in 2024.
"I thought I played a very clean match, kind of executed exactly what I wanted to from the start," she said.
"Maybe got a little help from her end, but at the same time was able to really just play a super-clean match and kind of do what I wanted to from start to finish.
"When those days come around, you take them and you run on with those to the next day."