No. 4 seed Jessica Pegula, the 2024 US Open runner-up, advanced to the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows for a second straight year by defeating fellow American Ann Li 6-1, 6-2 in just 54 minutes on Sunday.
Pegula, who opened the day session at Arthur Ashe Stadium, hasn’t dropped a set at this year’s tournament, and only once was even kept on court for more than 1 hour, 15 minutes.
The three games she dropped against Li were her fewest in a US Open match for her career. Through four rounds, Pegula has dropped just 17 games, her fewest en route to any of her eight major quarterfinal appearances.
“Probably the best match, honestly, I’ve played since, like, before Wimbledon I feel like from the start to finish. So that was encouraging,” the Buffalo native said. “I was just hitting the ball, doing everything well, executing my strategy very well and got through it pretty quick.”
Editor’s Picks
2 Related
Pegula had been 0-6 in Grand Slam quarterfinals before upsetting Iga Swiatek in that round last year. She went on to reach the final, where was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka. But she wasn’t sure her tennis was ready for a follow-up when she returned to New York.
She had lost four of her previous six singles matches coming into the US Open, and said she played so poorly while practicing with Sabalenka a few days before the tournament that she stopped early, opting instead for an escape room with some friends and a couple of drinks.
Things have certainly gotten better since.
“Like I said, I haven’t been feeling my best on court, so to be able to come back and make another quarterfinal here is something I’m definitely proud of,” Pegula said. “Of course, I want to go further and do more and win the tournament, but I feel like just on a personal kind of goal level, I’m happy with the way I’ve been able to kind of turn some of my tennis around the last few weeks.”
The 58th-ranked Li, one of five American women to reach the round of 16, was the highest-ranked player Pegula has faced in the tournament, but the 25-year-old was overpowered in her first appearance in the round of 16 in a major. Pegula broke her all four times she served in the 25-minute first set, and she had just five winners against 19 unforced errors in the match.
Pegula has excelled at tournaments in her home country, with her 85 WTA match wins on U.S. soil since the start of 2020 the most by any player on the women’s tour.
She will face either two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova or another American, Taylor Townsend — who upset No. 5 seed Mirra Andreeva in the previous round — on Tuesday.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Discover more from 6up.net
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
