One minute, Jessica Pegula was dismantling Madison Keys’ title defense with a clinical 6-3, 6-4 victory.
The next, the ousted champion was promising her full support for Pegula as she heads into an all-American quarterfinal against fourth-seeded Amanda Anisimova.
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Jessica Pegula of the U.S. reacts after defeating her compatriot Madison Keys in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Madison Keys of the U.S. waves at the crowd following her loss to her compatriot Jessica Pegula in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S., is congratulated by her compatriot Madison Keys after winning their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S., is congratulated by her compatriot Madison Keys after winning their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
“I don't think she needs any sort of pep talk from me,” said Keys, who does a podcast with Pegula and is a close friend. “I think she's sure of her game and how she's playing. We'll just be cheering her on.”
The Grand Slam Keys won a year ago was her first, which brings some peace even in defeat. At least she has one as she turns 31 next month.
Pegula, on the other hand, has yet to win one. She turns 32 next month. She lost the U.S. Open final in 2024 to Aryna Sabalenka and is into the Australian Open quarterfinals for the fourth time. She's lost the previous three.
“I'd say it feels way better losing and still being defending champion,” the ninth-seeded Keys said. "It's not like the world is ending because I lost today.
“When we play 11 months out of the year, and you play almost every single week — I mean you can't maintain the roller-coaster of the highs of winning and the lows of being devastated every single week," Keys added.
Pegula, seeded No. 6 here, said facing a friend was no big deal. And ditto about facing another American in the quarterfinals.
“It almost is like a weird feeling beating them, going to the next round because they're someone you know well, that you see all the time, you practice with all the time. Maybe you train with them. Maybe you live near each other.”
On the other hand, it's part of the high-earning job.
“We're with each other pretty much every week, traveling a lot on the same flights, eating at the same dining, staying at the hotel a lot." Pegula explained. "We see each other so much that I think you kind of have that feeling with most of the girls."
Part of Pegula's on-court interview after the victory, and later in a press conference, was about a friendly bet the two made on the podcast before the match.
As the loser, Keys has to eat a slice of apple pie topped with a piece of cheese. Keys suggested it sounded unappetizing.
Had Pegula lost, she would have been forced to wear a Kansas City Chief football jersey. Her family owns the rival Buffalo Bills.
The pie with cheese will be palatable for Keys. However, Pegula said she would never stomach wearing a Chiefs' jersey.
“Absolutely not,” Pegula said. “My family owns the Bills. This team (the Chiefs) has owned us in the postseason.”
Jessica Pegula of the U.S. reacts after defeating her compatriot Madison Keys in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Madison Keys of the U.S. waves at the crowd following her loss to her compatriot Jessica Pegula in their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S., is congratulated by her compatriot Madison Keys after winning their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Jessica Pegula, left, of the U.S., is congratulated by her compatriot Madison Keys after winning their fourth round match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The business jet that crashed Sunday evening while trying to take off in a snowstorm in Maine, killing 7 people, is a plane model that has a history of problems with crashes caused by ice buildup on the wings.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 carrying eight people crashed on takeoff at Bangor International Airport around 7:45 p.m. Sunday night as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. The Federal Aviation Administration said Monday that one member of the crew survived with serious injuries but everyone else aboard died.
The airport, about 200 miles north of Boston, shut down after the crash and will remain closed at least until Wednesday so investigators can examine and remove the wreckage.
Snowfall was heavy at the time of the crash in many other parts of the country, but accumulation had just started in Bangor and other planes had been taking off safely.
This particular plane model “has a history of problems with icing on takeoff” that has caused previous crashes, aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti said. The former federal crash investigator said even a little bit of ice on the wings can cause serious problems, so this plane would have needed to be deiced before takeoff but it's not clear when or if that was done.
The jet was registered to a corporation that shares the same address in Houston, Texas as the personal injury law firm Arnold and Itkin Trial Lawyers, and one of the law firm’s founding partners is listed as the registered agent for the company that owns the plane.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating. The NTSB said preliminary information shows the plane crashed upon departure and experienced a post-crash fire, but that it would have no further statement until after investigators arrive in a day or two.
An audio recording of air traffic controllers posted by www.LiveATC.net includes someone saying "Aircraft upside down. We have a passenger aircraft upside down,” about 45 seconds after a plane was cleared for takeoff. First responders arrived less than a minute later, airport director Jose Saavedra said.
Bangor International Airport offers direct commercial flights to cities like Orlando, Florida, Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, and is located about 200 miles (320 kilometers) north of Boston. As one of the closest U.S. airports to Europe, it’s also used to refuel private jets flying overseas.
The crash happened as New England and much of the country grappled with a massive winter storm. Bangor had undergone steady snowfall Sunday, though planes were landing and departing around the time of the crash, Saavedra said.
The National Weather Service in Caribou, Maine, said the airport received nearly 10 inches of snow in total, though the snowfall was just beginning at the time of the crash. About a tenth of an inch of snow fell between midnight and 7 p.m. Sunday, and snowfall was light but steady at the time. The service said wind speeds were about 10 mph, which is not out of the ordinary, at the time of the crash.
“We have crews on site that respond to weather storms on a regular basis,” Saavedra said. “This is normal for us to respond to weather events.”
Throughout the weekend, the vast storm dumped sleet, freezing rain and snow across much of the eastern half of the U.S., halting much air and road traffic and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses in the Southeast.
Commercial air traffic was also heavily disrupted around much of the U.S. Some 12,000 flights were canceled Sunday and nearly 20,000 were delayed, according to the flight tracker flightaware.com. Airports in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey were among those impacted.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 is a wide-bodied business jet configured for nine to 11 passengers. It was launched in 1980 as the first private jet with a “walk-about cabin” and remains a popular charter option, according to aircharterservice.com.
The plane had just landed at Bangor from Houston at 6:09 p.m., according to FlightRadar24.com, so it would have likely been sitting outside in the snow for more than an hour before it tried to takeoff again. And it wouldn't have taken long for ice to start building up on the wings — particularly if the plane was refueled with cold jet fuel that's stored in wing tanks, a factor the NTSB has cited in previous crashes.
Airport officials said planes were being deiced at the airport at the time of the crash, but it wasn't immediately clear whether this particular plane was treated before it tried to take off.
“Given the weather conditions at the time, and the history of wind contamination with this particular aircraft, I’m sure that’s something the NTSB is going to look into immediately,” Guzzetti said. “If there was any kind of precipitation at all, freezing precipitation, they would have needed to clean off those wings before they took off,” he said.
Bombardier and the FAA recommended new procedures after the previous crashes to ensure these planes' wings are free of ice, and Guzzetti said there have not been many crashes related to this problem in the last few years.
Ramer contributed to this report from Concord, New Hampshire, and Funk contributed from Omaha, Nebraska.
This image taken from video provided by WABI television, emergency services work on a scene of the Bombardier Challenger 600 crash at the Bangor Airport in Maine, late Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026. (WABI via AP)
