NEW YORK — No. 4 Jessica Pegula, the highest-seeded American remaining in the US Open women’s singles draw, defeated Barbora Krejcikova 6-3, 6-3 on Tuesday to get to the semifinals at a Grand Slam tournament for just the second time in her career.
Pegula failed to advance into the semis in her first 23 main draw appearances at a major before reaching the US Open final a year ago, when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka, and has since been eliminated in the fourth round at the Australian Open, the third round at the French Open and the first round at Wimbledon.
Being back on hard courts at the US Open has been a recipe for success. For the second consecutive year, Pegula made the final four at Flushing Meadows without dropping a set, and has only been pushed past five-all in one set so far, which came in the second set of her third-round match with Victoria Azarenka.
Before Pegula, the last woman to reach the US Open semifinals in back-to-back years without surrendering a set was Serena Williams, who did so four straight times from 2011-14.
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Pegula has lost 23 total games in this tournament, the fewest by an American woman en route to a major semifinal since Williams at the 2016 Australian Open (22 games lost prior to semis).
“I think I’ve been playing some really good tennis,” Pegula said. “I’ve just been playing very solid. I’ve been having very good quick starts, so I really wanted to do that today, especially against someone like (Krejcikova) who’s very dangerous.”
Sabalenka, now the top-ranked women’s tennis player in the world, could be Pegula’s next opponent if she beats Marketa Vondrousova in their match on Tuesday night. That’s also at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where Pegula made quick work of Krejcikova.
“It’s crazy to look now and think that I’m really comfortable coming out here playing on big courts in big matches on the best court in the world with the craziest crowd against the best players,” Pegula said. “It’s pretty crazy, and it’s something 10 years ago I never thought I’d be good at this, but I guess I am.”
Pegula, 31, is aiming for her first Grand Slam championship. She and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova are the only Americans left in the women’s singles field.
Krejcikova knocked out one of them, Taylor Townsend, who failed to convert eight match points when they met in the round of 16 on Sunday. Pegula was not perfect, but she played well enough to stay in control at all times and broke Krejcikova one final time to end the match in under 90 minutes — on her first match point attempt.
“It got really tight,” Pegula said. “She had a couple really good returns when I was serving at 4-1, and then we all saw what she did against Taylor, so I was happy that we’re done.”
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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