'It sucked' - Pegula puts friendship aside to progress

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Jessica Pegula admitted it "sucked" and Lorenzo Musetti said it "was not easy to deal with" - but that did not prevent either player from crushing their doubles partners' ambitions at the Australian Open.

World number six Pegula overwhelmed McCartney Kessler 6-0 6-2 in just 58 minutes, while fifth seed Musetti swept past fellow Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-3 6-3 6-4.

Pegula and her American compatriot Kessler played doubles together on Wednesday at Melbourne Park, losing to fifth seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani.

Musetti and Sonego, meanwhile, won the doubles title at the Hong Kong Open earlier in January.

"It's always tricky when you have to play someone that you know and like and also that you're playing doubles with," Pegula, 31, said.

"That part was just unfortunate because we obviously want to see each other do well separately - but not when we have to play each other."

Only a previous "miscommunication" had prevented Pegula and Kessler from linking up sooner.

"We've tried to hook up for doubles so many times. Of course, the time that we are actually ready to play, we also play each other in the next round in singles," Pegula said.

"We had a bunch of blunders trying to play together. One time I thought we signed in [for a tournament], but we hadn't. In Brisbane, we signed in but didn't get in [the draw]."

When the two faced off at opposite sides of the net, it was Pegula who dominated. She fired in 18 winners, made just seven unforced errors and won 73% of her first serve points.

She will face Russia's Oksana Selekhmeteva next - with another good friend in defending champion Madison Keys potentially waiting in the fourth round.