NEW YORK — Madison Keys overpowered fellow American Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-3 in just over an hour Monday to move into the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Keys, the No. 17 seed and 2017 runner-up at Flushing Meadows, converted on 77% of her first-serve points and used powerful ground strokes to keep rallies short – a little over three strokes on average – to make quick work of her third-seeded opponent and close friend.

Keys said it was tough playing a friend but “at the end of the day we both want to win. We’re all business on the court.”

For Pegula, it marked yet another Grand Slam disappointment. She has advanced to the quarterfinals in each major tournament but has yet to reach the final four.

Keys’ quarterfinals opponent will be ninth-seeded Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic, who came back to beat unseeded American Peyton Stearns 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 to keep her dream alive of a second straight Grand Slam title after winning Wimbledon in July.

The hottest player at this point could be second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who is going to be the No. 1 player in the WTA rankings next week, replacing Iga Swiatek, who lost to Jelena Ostapenko on Sunday. Sabalenka showed off the power-based game that allows her to dominate so many opponents, overwhelming No. 13 seed Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-3 to advance to her fifth consecutive major quarterfinal.

“All this year, I’ve been pushing myself so hard to reach this goal,” Sabalenka said about getting to No. 1. “It really means a lot for me. It means a lot for my family. It’s crazy. It’s unbelievable.”

Fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur was ousted in the fourth round by Qinwen Zheng, 6-2, 6-4, while unseeded American Peyton Stearns, despite winning the first set, saw her run end against Marketa Simková, 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2.

Zheng, who is seeded No. 23, becomes the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open since Wang Qiang in 2019. She did it by overpowering the fifth-seeded Tunisian with an aggressive baseline game that produced 21 winners.

“I feel just super happy and excited to play in a big stadium and have a really good performance today,” the 20-year-old Zheng told the Louis Armstrong Stadium crowd.

In the men’s fourth round Monday,  Carlos Alcaraz had little trouble beating unseeded Matteo Arnaldi 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals for the third time in as many appearances he’s gotten at least that far at Flushing Meadows.

The No. 1-seeded Alcaraz, who is seeking to defend his title after winning Wimbledon in July, said afterward that he now prefers hard courts over any other surface and also likes playing under the Arthur Ashe Stadium roof. He enjoyed both against the 61st-ranked Arnaldi, an Italian who proved little match for Alcaraz’s power, which produced 31 winners and 22 unforced errors.

By advancing to the round of eight, the 20-year-old Spaniard became the youngest player to reach three U.S. Open quarterfinals in the open era that dates to 1968 and the only player other than Andre Agassi to do so before turning 21.

Alcaraz next faces the winner of the night match on Ashe between sixth-seeded Jannik Sinner and No. 12 Alexander Zverev.

Third-seeded Daniil Medvedev dropped a set, but quickly surged to beat No. 13 Alex de Minaur 2-6. 6-4, 6-1, 6-2, while eighth-seeded Andrey Rublev of Russia got past Jack Draper of Britain 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 and advanced to his fourth U.S. Open quarterfinal and the ninth Grand Slam quarterfinal of his career.

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