By HOWARD FENDRICH
Jessica Pegula pulled off a major upset over Iga Swiatek at the US Open, beating the world number one 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night to reach a Grand Slam quarter-final for the first time in her seventh attempt.
“Finally I can say ‘semi-finalist’!” Pegula told the crowd.
“I knew I could do it,” she added.
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 committed only 22 unforced errors in total and used some formidable defense to force Swiatek to hit an extra shot.
Pegula, the No. 6 seed and 30-year-old American, has won 14 of her last 15 matches and will make her first appearance in a Grand Slam semifinal on Thursday against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Pegula repeatedly did what has seemed almost impossible to do lately against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 US Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past two and a half years: break her serve.
Entering Wednesday, Swiatek had lost just two service games in four matches at the hard-court tournament, both in the first round — and she hasn’t faced a single break point in any of her last three matches. That’s part of why the 23-year-old Pole was listed as a -350 favorite against Pegula, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
But Pegula, whose parents own the NFL’s Buffalo Bills and the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres, didn’t have much trouble in that department, especially early on, breaking each of Swiatek’s first two service games, both of which ended in double faults, and three of the first six.
Fortunately, Swiatek was unable to properly calibrate her first serves early on, putting only 2 of her 12 serves – 16.7% – into play early on, only 36% for the first set.
In Pegula’s previous 0-6 run in major quarter-finals, two of the exits came against Swiatek, and one against another No. 1 player, Ash Barty.
Pegula was asked about the record during her on-court post-match interview after winning her fourth-round match. And again during the press conference that followed. And again during a televised interview before she walked out at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday.
If it bothered her, Pegula didn’t let it show. Just as she showed no discernible emotion after leading 4-0 with just 21 minutes to go in the quarterfinal. Even when Pegula took that set, she made only a slight movement of her left fist as she headed to her courtside seat.
Swiatek didn’t hide her frustration well, and even received a big slap on the right thigh after a forehand that was again broken and that led her 4-3 in the second set. Fifteen minutes later, it was over.
Muchova was runner-up to Swiatek at the 2023 French Open and reached the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows for the second straight year with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over No. 22 Beatriz Haddad Maia earlier on Wednesday.
“It was me and myself, it was my ghosts in my mind and I know all tennis players have that,” Haddad Maia said. “Today it was like an inner fight. I couldn’t handle it.”
Muchova lost to champion Coco Gauff in the 2023 US Open semi-finals but had to undergo surgery on her right wrist in October and was forced off the tour for about 10 months before returning in June. It was the latest in a series of injuries for Muchova, who said it was “one of the worst I’ve had”.
“Now, looking back on it,” she said, “I think, ‘Oh, time has gone by so quickly, and I feel strong again.'”
Thursday’s other women’s singles match pits Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka, the No. 2 seed, against first-time Grand Slam semifinalist Emma Navarro, an American who is seeded No. 13. Sabalenka lost to Gauff in the 2023 final in New York; Navarro ended Gauff’s title defense in the fourth round.
In the men’s quarter-finals, world number 25 Jack Draper reached his first Grand Slam semi-final – and became the first Briton to go that far at the US Open since Andy Murray lifted the trophy in 2012 – by crushing world number 10 Alex de Minaur 6-3, 7-5, 6-2.
The other men’s semifinal will pit No. 12 Taylor Fritz against No. 20 Frances Tiafoe in the first all-American match at this stage of a major tournament in 19 years.
Draper has won all 15 sets he has played so far, but things are expected to get tougher on Friday: that’s when he’ll face either No. 1 Jannik Sinner or No. 5 Daniil Medvedev for a spot in the final. Medvedev won the title in New York in 2021 and was the only former champion in the men’s draw before his clash with Sinner in the final singles quarterfinal on Wednesday.
“It’s not something that’s going to happen overnight for me. I’ve been a long-time believer in working hard and doing the right things, and I knew my time would come,” said Draper, whose right leg was taped by a trainer after feeling something late in the first set. “I didn’t know when it was going to happen, but hopefully from here on out I can do a lot of amazing things. I’m very proud of myself.”
