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New York — jessica pegula made a huge upset Inga Swiatek She beat the number one-ranked women’s player at the US Open 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal in her seventh attempt.
“There have been so many times where I kept losing,” Pegula told the crowd. “I know everybody keeps asking me about it, but I was like, ‘I don’t know what else to do. I just have to get out there again and win matches.’ So thank God I was able to do that. And finally — finally! — I can say, ‘Semifinalist.’”
His victory has ensured that he will have a stellar performance at the US Open. Many American men And women In the semifinal round, this has happened for the first time since 2003 (Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick; Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati).
Pegula, the 30-year-old American seeded sixth, has won 14 of her last 15 matches and will be playing in the tournament for the first time. in the semifinals of a Grand Slam against an unseeded player on Thursday Karolina Muchova Of the Czech Republic.
Both Muchova and Pegula have yet to lose a set, the first time multiple women have done so at this stage of the tournament since 2014 (they lost three sets that year): serena williams, Peng Shuai Explained And Ekaterina Makarova,
“I know she has a lot of experience advancing in Slams,” Pegula said of Muchova, whom she beat last month at the Cincinnati Open. “I’ll probably worry about that when I wake up in the morning.”
The other women’s match on Thursday also features an American playing in her first major semifinal, No. 13 Emma Navarroagainst number 2 Aryna SabalenkaWho has won the last two Australian Open titles. Coco Gauff At the 2023 final in New York; Navarro ended Gauff’s title defense in the fourth round.
There are also two Americans in the men’s semifinals, but they will face each other: No. 12 Taylor Fritz moves to number 20 Francis Tiafoe On Friday.
The uneven nature of Pegula’s win was surprising, but she was confident this day would come.
“I knew I could do it. I just had to go out and play my game and not get frustrated,” she said. “Luckily I felt like I was able to take advantage of some of the things she wasn’t doing well early on and then was able to keep that momentum throughout the match.”
Swiatek served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem, with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming from that side. Pegula made just 22 unforced errors overall and used superb defense to force Swiatek to hit extra shots.
Pegula repeatedly did what seemed nearly impossible against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 US Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has been atop the WTA rankings for most of the past two-and-a-half years: broke her serve.
Before Wednesday, Swiatek had lost only two service games in four matches at the tournament, both in the first round — and she hadn’t faced a single break point in her most recent three encounters.
But Pegula, whose parents own the N.F.L. Buffalo Bills and the NHL Buffalo SabresDidn’t have much trouble in that department, especially early, breaking Swiatek’s opening two service games, which both ended with double-faults, and broke in three of her first six.
It helped that Swiatek didn’t balance her first serve well early on, hitting just 2 of 12 serves – 16.7% – in the first set, and only 36% in the first set.
Though the game was steadily going in her favor, Pegula showed no particular emotion, whether it was taking a 4-0 lead in the 21st minute or winning the set, which she celebrated with a slight shake of her left fist as she headed to a sideline seat.
Swiatek didn’t hide her thoughts well. She smashed her racket over the net. She tapped her right thigh when a forehand broke wide again and fell behind 4-3 in the second set. Fifteen minutes later, it was over.
“It’s never easy to play against Jess,” Swiatek said. “Her ball is tricky because it’s really low and really flat. I made a lot of mistakes.”
Pegula began the day as the only player in the WTA’s top 10 who had not reached a major semifinal; at 0–6 in her career in Slam quarterfinals, she was one loss away from the worst record in major quarterfinals by any woman in the Open era, shared by three players (0–7).
During that 0-6 loss, she was eliminated twice against Swiatek, and once against another No. 1 player, Ash Barty.
Pegula was asked about her record in this round during a postmatch interview on court after winning her fourth-round match. And then again in a news conference after that. And then again during a TV interview before stepping into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.
If Pegula was burdened by all of this, he didn’t let it show.
ESPN Stats & Information and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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