A very close first set went the way of the Serb as she played a near flawless breaker to move into a one-set lead.
A Pegula fightback briefly looked on the cards, but Danilovic quickly snuffed out the danger before turning the screws on the American to break twice and earn a much-deserved victory over the 2024 US Open finalist.
It is Danilovic’s biggest career win in terms of ranking and builds on the steady progress she has made over the past year, having come through qualifying to reach the fourth round at Roland-Garros last June before winning her second WTA title in Guangzhou last October.
Now, she is into the second week of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.
Danilovic, ranked No 55, will play Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 11 seed, next.
-The Serb defeated Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus (6-4, 6-4) and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 25 seed (6-1, 6-2) in the previous rounds of the first Grand Slam tournament of the 2025 season.
Earlier in the tournament, Pegula, ranked No 6, beat Australian wildcard Maya Joint (6-3, 6-0) and Belgian Elise Mertens (6-4, 6-2).
Melbourne (Grand Slam), other third-round results (Melbourne Park, hard, USD 60.627.573, most recent results first):
- Madison Keys vs. Danielle Collins
- Elina Svitolina vs. Jasmine Paolini
- Beatriz Haddad Maia vs. Veronika Kudermetova
- Elena Rybakina vs. Dayana Yastremska
- Yulia Putintseva vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Eva Lys vs. Jaqueline Cristian
- Emma Raducanu vs. Iga Swiatek
- Emma Navarro vs. Our Jabeur
- Coco Gauff (3) beat Leylah Fernandez (30): 6-4, 6-2
- Belinda Bencic beat Naomi Osaka: 7-6 (3) ret.
- Mirra Andreeva (14) beat Magdalena Frech (23): 6-2, 1-6, 6-2
- Paula Badosa beat Marta Kostyuk (17): 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
- Aryna Sabalenka (1) beat Clara Tauson: 7-6 (5), 6-4
- Donna Vekic (18) beat Diana Schneider (12): 7-6 (4), 6-7 (3), 7-5
- Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (27) beat Laura Siegemund: 6-1, 6-2
