(New York) American Jessica Pegula is back in the quarterfinals of the US Open tennis tournament after a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Russian Diana Shnaider on Monday, this time facing world number one Iga Świątek of Poland.
Pegula will be in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the seventh time. Her career record so far at this stage is 0-6.
Seeded sixth at Flushing Meadows, Pegula is on a roll, winning 13 of her last 14 matches. During that stretch, she won a second straight title in Canada and reached the final in Cincinnati, where she lost to Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka.
“I feel more pressure this year because I did well before the tournament,” said the 30-year-old American. “I want to continue working and play my best tennis in the coming rounds.”
Świątek was tied 4-4 against Russia’s Liudmila Samsonova, 16.e seed, before winning seven straight games en route to a 6-4, 6-1 victory.
PHOTO ROBERT DEUTSCH, USA TODAY SPORTS
Iga Swiatek
When the Pole won the tournament in 2022 to secure her first of five Grand Slam titles, she edged out Pegula in the quarter-finals.
“She’s got a good rhythm right now and she’s won so many games in the last few weeks,” Świątek said. “It’s definitely going to be a challenge.”
In fact, three of Pegula’s six major tournament quarter-final losses have come at the hands of the world number one – twice to Świątek and once to Australia’s Ashleigh Barty.
“I’m going to try to take those experiences and how I felt before those games, but it’s so hard,” Pegula said. “I know you don’t want to get clichés, but it’s just one game at a time, and every day is different. There’s so many variables on a daily basis.”
Czech Karolína Muchová is also back in the quarter-finals after beating fifth-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 6-3.
PHOTO EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jasmine Paolini
Muchová now has a date with Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia, 22e seed. The latter ousted Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki, champion of the 2018 Australian Open, in three sets of 6-2, 3-6 and 6-3.
Haddad Maia, 28, was given a 10-month ban for doping in 2019. A semi-finalist at the 2023 French Open, she had never made it past the second round at Flushing Meadows. She is the first Brazilian to take part in the quarter-finals of this major tournament since Maria Bueno in 1968.
Muchová had a breakthrough year in 2023, reaching the final at the French Open and the semi-finals in New York before undergoing surgery on her right wrist in October and finding herself sidelined for 10 months.
PHOTO EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Karolina Muchova
“It was my worst injury. But I love this sport and in my head I wanted to do everything to come back even better, and here I am today,” Muchová said.
Paolini was a finalist at the French Open in Paris and at Wimbledon this summer.