Jessica Pegula breaks through to U.S. Open semifinals, beating world No. 1 Iga Swiatek
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Jessica Pegula made American tennis history in reaching her first semifinal at a Grand Slam tennis tournament.
Pegula advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals with her decisive 6-2, 6-4 victory against world No. 1 player Iga Swiatek on Wednesday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium in Flushing Meadows, Queens.
In doing so at age 30, the Buffalonian became the oldest American woman to reach her first semifinal of a major tournament after losing in her previous six Grand Slam quarterfinals.
The lopsided nature of Pegula’s win was surprising, but she did not think this day would never arrive.
“I knew I could do it,” she said. “I just had to go out and execute my game and not get frustrated.”
Swiatek served poorly in the first set and her forehand was a real problem, with 22 of her 41 unforced errors coming on that side. Pegula made only 22 unforced errors in all and used terrific defense to keep forcing Swiatek to hit an extra shot.
“It’s never easy to play against Jess. She has a tricky ball because it’s pretty low and pretty flat,” Swiatek said. “I just made too many mistakes.”
Pegula also kept breaking serve against Swiatek, who counts the 2022 U.S. Open among her five Grand Slam titles and has led the WTA rankings for most of the past 2 1/2 years.
Entering Wednesday, Swiatek had lost just a pair of service games across four matches in the tournament, both in the first round — and she didn’t even face a single break point in any of her most recent three contests. That’s all part of why the 23-year-old from Poland was listed as a -350 money-line favorite against Pegula, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.
