For the third straight year, Jessica Pegula is into the Australian Open quarterfinals.

The 28-year-old American won in straight sets Sunday over Barbora Krejčíková. The No. 3 seed next will face off against Victoria Azarenka at 3 a.m. ET Tuesday in hopes of making her first semifinal at the Melbourne major.

All eyes will be on Pegula, as she is the lone American woman – and the highest seed – left in the women’s singles draw.

So what is Pegula’s path to the title? Just Women’s Sports breaks it down.

Quarterfinal: Victoria Azarenka

A former world No. 1, Azarenka has made the final at the Australian Open twice before in 2008 and 2011, but the 33-year-old has not made a major final since 2019. This year’s quarterfinal appearance marks her best run at the Australian Open since 2016 and her first appearance past the fourth round in a major since the 2020 US Open.

Azarenka and Pegula have faced off five times prior to this. Their most recent meeting came at the 2022 Guadalajara Open, which Pegula won in straight sets. She went on to win the title at the October tournament.

"I absolutely adore her." 🥰

Rocking the sunglasses, @vika7 looks ahead to her quarterfinal against good friend @JLPegula. 😎#AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/igwmLY29Y6

— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 23, 2023

Semifinal: Winner of Elena Rybakina vs. Jelena Ostapenko

The good news is that Pegula won’t have to go up against world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinal after Swiatek lost her round of 16 matchup. Instead, she’ll face off against either Rybakina or Ostapenko.

Rybakina won Wimbledon last year and is fresh off taking out Swiatek in a dominant, straight-set win. But Pegula has beaten Rybakina in both of their previous matchups, including a win at the 2022 Guadalajara Open.

Ostapenko, meanwhile, is a former French Open champion who is on a career-best run at the Australian Open. She ousted No. 7 seed Coco Gauff in the fourth round but has lost twice to Pegula in her career. She won their most recent meeting, though, at the Qatar Open in 2021.

Final: No. 5 Aryna Sabalenka

The highest seed left in the draw besides Pegula is No. 5 Sabalenka, who took out Olympic gold medalist Belinda Bencic in the fourth round. The 24-year-old Belarusian has beaten Pegula four times, most recently at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth in November.

Other possible opponents for Pegula in the championship match include Madga Linette, who took out No. 4 seed Caroline Garcia, as well as Donna Vekic and former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.

Unrivaled Basketball and trading card manufacturer Panini America are teaming up, bringing the 3×3 league's first officially licensed trading cards to market on Friday.

As part of a multi-year agreement between the two parties, Panini will debut the Instant Cards just hours before the first full weekend of play in the 2026 Unrivaled season tips off on Friday.

Panini also plans to launch a Rewind set of trading cards celebrating the 2025 inaugural Unrivaled season, among other future drops.

"Our partnership with Unrivaled is a great way to reinforce and showcase our support of the women's game and female athletes," said Panini America SVP of marketing Jason Howarth in the pair's Thursday announcement. "Unrivaled's 3-on-3 format makes for exciting and compelling game play and continuing to work with the best players in the world in this format made this partnership make perfect sense."

Following Monday's Season 2 tip-off, Unrivaled is continuing to form strategic partnerships as the offseason pro league grows in popularity.

"We want to meet fans where they are, and Panini's history in this space makes them an ideal partner to highlight the biggest moments for women's basketball's biggest stars," said Unrivaled president Alex Bazzell.

How to purchase Unrivaled Instant Cards

The full Unrivaled Instant Card set will release online at 3:08 PM ET on Friday at PaniniAmerica.net.

US women are lighting up the ice, performing record-breaking short programs at the US Figure Skating Championships on Wednesday as the nation's top skaters compete to represent Team USA at the 2026 Winter Olympics in February.

Currently atop the field is 26-year-old Amber Glenn, with the reigning back-to-back national champion posting the highest short program score in event history on Wednesday.

Glenn's 83.05-point performance surpassed the 81.11-point previous record set just minutes before by her 20-year-old teammate, reigning world champion Alysa Liu.

"I think that was one of my most enjoyable experiences competing ever," Glenn said afterwards.

With Liu and Glenn leading the charge, the US is aiming to end a 20-year Olympic medal drought in women's singles figure skating in Milan, Italy, this winter — and Team USA has even more depth on their side.

A full six of the world's Top-17 skaters hail from the US, with 18-year-old Isabeau Levito — who claimed third in Wednesday's short program competition — joining Glenn and Liu in the Top 5.

Team USA can send only three singles skaters to next month's Winter Games, with the national selection committee assessing each athlete's full season — not just their performances at this week's championships — before announcing the Olympic-bound trio on Sunday.

How to watch the 2026 US Figure Skating Championships

The women's singles competition will conclude with Friday's free skate, which kicks off at 3 PM ET before the top skaters in the standings take the ice at 8 PM ET on NBC and Peacock.

The 2026 US Olympic Figure Skating Team will then be announced at 2 PM ET on Sunday, live on NBC.

This month's USWNT roster featured one notable gap, as the absence of Portland Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey stirred up rumors that the 27-year-old is finalizing a move to the WSL to join the top-tier UK league's frontrunners, Manchester City.

First reported by The Guardian, ESPN added on Thursday that Manchester City will ante up a base transfer fee around $800,000 to add Coffey to the Citizens' roster — though the number could rise as negotiations continue and parties finalize a deal.

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The national team stalwart will reportedly travel to Manchester in the near future to ink a potential contract, but Coffey currently remains under contract with Portland until 2027, having signed an extension with the Thorns in 2024.

Coffey has been a mainstay for her NWSL club since Portland drafted the Penn State alum in 2021, but the UK league's pull could persuade her to join her USWNT teammates Alyssa Thompson (Chelsea), Emily Fox (Arsenal), Phallon Tullis-Joyce (Manchester United), and Naomi Girma (Chelsea) in making the leap to the WSL.

Currently sitting six points clear of six-time reigning champion Chelsea atop the 2025/26 WSL table, Manchester City has reportedly been searching for "the right defensive midfield option" as they pursue their first league title since 2016.

This weekend's SEC slate brings the heat, as the stacked NCAA basketball conference gears up for more than one high-profile ranked matchup on Sunday.

Undefeated No. 2 Texas will visit Baton Rouge to take on No. 12 LSU, with the Tigers looking to add to their 80-59 Thursday win over unranked Georgia as they continue battling back from a dismal 0-2 start in 2025/26 conference play.

"We think we're just going to go in there and out-jump, out-leap somebody," said LSU boss Kim Mulkey following last Sunday's loss to No. 7 Vanderbilt. "You're not going to do that in this league."

"This year, the [SEC] is every bit as good as last year — when you really think about it, it's probably way better," Longhorns head coach Vic Schaefer told the Austin American-Statesman on Thursday. "The big thing right now is we've got to get better."

Texas's clash with LSU opens a tough stretch for the Longhorns, as they face AP Poll headliners No. 3 South Carolina, No. 5 Oklahoma, No. 6 Kentucky, and No. 7 Vanderbilt in the coming weeks.

Sunday's other SEC blockbuster between the Sooners and the Wildcats is all about redemption, as Oklahoma aims to bounce back from their 74-69 upset loss to No. 18 Ole Miss on Thursday while Kentucky looks to put their 64-51 Thursday loss to unranked Alabama in the rearview mirror.

How to watch ranked SEC basketball on Sunday

No. 2 Texas will tip off Sunday's ranked SEC slate against No. 12 LSU at 3 PM ET, airing live on ESPN.

Then at 4 PM ET, No. 5 Oklahoma will visit No. 6 Kentucky, with live coverage on the SEC Network.