Bigger tournaments on the horizon: Jessica Pegula and Marta Kostyuk withdraw from Adelaide International ahead of Australian Open

After deep runs in the Brisbane International, Jessica Pegula and Marta Kostyuk have both made the executive decision to skip the upcoming Adelaide International as they set their sights on the Australian Open.

The pair both enjoyed a very commendable start to the season, facing off in the semi-final in Brisbane. Continuing on from the theme of last year, Pegula was engulfed in two tight three-set clashes against Anna Kalinskaya and Dayana Yastremska before fending off Liudmila Samsonova.

While she would go into the semi-final the obvious favourite to reach the final, Kostyuk had been in impeccable form, taking down some of the best players in the world. After putting on the afterburners against Yulia Putinseva, she managed to cause a brace of huge surprises, dumping out Amanda Anisimova and Mirra Andreeva without dropping a set.

This would give her a lot of hope to repeat the fate against the world number six, and that is exactly what she did. She won the first eight games on the spin before restricting the American to very little as she reached her first final since 2024, looking to add a second title to the ATX Open she collected in 2023.

However, it was always going to be very tricky against the world number one Aryna Sabalenka, who had not looked like he had broken a sweat in Brisbane. The Ukrainian put up a good fight, but was unable to defeat the four-time Grand Slam champion, losing 6-4, 6-3.

As common to see with deep runs like this, both Pegula and Kostyuk have opted to skip the WTA 500 event in Adelaide to preserve their bodies for bigger tournaments on the horizon, most notably the looming Australian Open. Following the event in Melbourne is also two WTA 1000 events in the Middle East, the Qatar Open and Duba Duty Free Tennis Championships.

With this in the back of their minds, the Adelaide International seems a little bit unimportant now compared to the competitions just listed. This has cropped up in the decision making for both of these players. Kostyuk's run to the final has left her fatigued with a number of big matches crammed into a week. She sights a period of rest before the Australian Open. It is slightly different reasoning for Pegula. She was playing with an injured thigh in Brisbane, and will sensibly be taking no risks in Adelaide.

The pair of them have both had enjoyable runs in the Australian Open, with Kostyuk having the more fruitful performances more recently. Her best Grand Slam result came in the 2024 Australian Open, capitalising on the open draw to storm through to the last-eight where she pushed Coco Gauff in a tight contest. However, the American ran away with it in the final set. She will be looking to build on a third round defeat from last year where she was overcome by eventual semi-finalist Paula Badosa.

For Pegula's best results in this specific event, you have to look slightly further back. She made her debut in 2020 with a first round exit before a run of three quarter-finals in a row from 2021 to 2023. After taking eventual runner-up Jennifer Brady to three sets, she was resoundingly defeated by Ashleigh Barty and Victoria Azarenka in the following ties. A second and third round exit in her most recent two participations is not good reading for the former world number three, who will look to make things right this time.