Takeaways: Keys, Pegula win all-American Round 2 matches at Australian Open

Defending champion Madison Keys and No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula each defeated compatriots in Round 2 of the Australian Open with ease on Thursday with the loss of just eight games combined.

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Pegula admitted to former Top 10 player Coco Vandeweghe that it "sucked" to play not just another American, but her doubles partner, in the form of World No. 37 McCartney Kessler after a 6-0, 6-2 win. Pegula, who beat Kessler last year in the final of the WTA 250 in Austin, Texas, won the first eight games in the reprise inside Rod Laver Arena on her way to a triumph in just 58 minutes.

Meanwhile, Keys -- who came from a 4-0 first-set deficit and saved two set points in her opening 7-6(6), 6-1 win over Ukrainian Oleksandra Olyniykova -- didn't face the same kind of early trouble against World No. 62 Ashlyn Krueger, but did face a tough test in set two. She rallied from 5-2 behind, saved a set point in the ninth game, and came all the way back 6-1, 7-5 in 1 hour and 13 minutes.

Read on to learn more about how they did it.

Pegula: Meeting with Kessler was almost written in the stars

Kessler and Pegula spent a lot of time together over the last 24-plus hours in Melbourne. A long-awaited doubles partnership finally came to fruition -- they lost in the first round on Wednesday to Gabriela Dabrowski and Luisa Stefani -- making their singles meeting feel like fate, Pegula said. 

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

That familiarity meant that Pegula was more than ready for the challenge Kessler posed. She needed to lock-in further, she said, after Kessler took an off-court medical timeout in between sets, and found her footing.

"I just tried to stay loose -- got off to a really good start, which I was proud of, but then I lost it right back," Pegula said. "She's such a good competitor so I knew that at one point she was going to find a way to start playing better and work her way into the match. I think I got a little too passive at some point, but she started ripping and being a little more aggressive. I just had to adjust a little bit more, but I did a good job of not panicking and sticking to my game plan."

Keys' champion's mentality shines again 

While Keys' playing level has wavered in her first two matches, one thing has stayed constant: the champion's mentality that's helped her adjust to the challenges posed by two very different opponents in her title defense so far. 

"I think I started really well and I think Ashlyn started a little bit slow. I was fully expecting her to raise her level, which she did. It got away from me quickly, and I just really wanted to -- even if I lost the set -- try to get back in the set, try to figure out where my game went," she said. "Once I got that momentum, I tried to sink my teeth into the set, and do whatever I could to get back into it."

She honed that skill in her battle-tested title run a year ago, she says -- where she played three sets in five of her seven wins.

"You have moments in your career where things just start going right, and that's just kind of how it felt for a couple of weeks ... I think it's easy to look back and romanticize it and think I played unbelievable tennis, but everyone likes to remind me ... that I lost the most games in history in winning a Grand Slam.

"Having that remind that things can happen at any moment as long as you try to keep yourself in matches, and do the best that you can every single day."

More to come...