After going 0-6 in her previous Grand Slam quarterfinals, Jessica Pegula achieved a career breakthrough on the biggest stage in tennis.
Under lights at Arthur Ashe Stadium, Pegula outplayed world No.1 Iga Swiatek to reach her first major semifinal at age 30.
Pegula, projected to return to world No.4, will hope to maintain her inspiring run when she faces the resurgent Karolina Muchova.
“I’ve been [into major quarterfinals] so many friggin’ times,” Pegula smiled on court. “I just kept losing – but to great players, I mean, to girls that went on and won the tournament.
“So I know everyone keeps asking me about it, but I was, like, I don’t know what else to do? I just need to get there again and win the match.
“So thank God I was able to do it. And finally – finally! – I can say semifinalist.”
In terms of ranking, this was not a huge upset, given Pegula had spent the majority of the past two years inside the top five.
And she is perhaps the most in-form player on tour, winning 14 of her past 15 matches after claiming the WTA 1000 title in Toronto and progressing to the Cincinnati final, and now winning another five matches at Flushing Meadows, all in straight sets.
But Swiatek had won six of their past eight meetings, most recently a 6-1 6-0 demolition in the title match at last year’s WTA Finals.
Swiatek had also not dropped a set en route to the quarterfinals in New York and was getting better with each match, outplaying dangerous 16th seed Liudmila Samsonova for the loss of just five games.
That put her into an eighth Grand Slam quarterfinal, and she’d won six of those, going on to win the entire tournament on five occasions.
However, she looked out-of-sorts from the first game, and was facing an opponent – backed by a vocal home crowd – who was laser-focused and attained a high level immediately.
Pegula played with exceptional consistency, controlled aggression and depth, racing ahead 5-1. Swiatek, by contrast, could not control her shots, her nine winners completely undone by 22 unforced errors. She would finish the match with 41.
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The second set was nevertheless a tighter affair, during which Swiatek landed more of her stinging blows and forced Pegula to repeat her quality, and defend more often.
The American delivered, breaking serve in an epic seventh game and, serving for the match three games later, remaining calm as Swiatek saved two match points with winners. She finally cemented her biggest Grand Slam result when Swiatek pushed a backhand wide.
Pegula admitted she was tight at the end, but she always looked in control.
“To do it [in] prime-time [on] Ashe, against the No.1 player in the world, I mean, it’s crazy,” Pegula said.
“But I knew it could do it. I just had to go out and execute my game and not get frustrated. Luckily I felt like I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn’t doing well, very early, and then was able to kind of ride that momentum throughout the match.”
Pegula takes a step closer to a meeting with Aryna Sabalenka, who beat her in the Cincinnati final. It would be the first time since 2013 that the reigning Canada and Cincinnati champions clashed in the subsequent US Open women’s singles final.
But Sabalenka must first contend with Emma Navarro – who beat the world No.2 at Indian Wells – and Pegula faces the ever-dangerous Muchova, who has reached back-to-back US Open semifinals.
“She’s so good. She’s so talented. So athletic,” Pegula said of Muchova, whom she beat in three sets in the first round of Cincinnati.
“I love how she just doesn't play [after chronic injuries] and comes back and beats everybody.
“I know she has a lot of experience going deep in Slams as well, so I’m going to have to bring my best tennis.”
Pegula then added, with a little laugh: “But I’ll worry about that maybe when I wake up in the morning.”