Jessica Pegula enjoyed one of her strongest days at Wimbledon as her racket powered winners left, right and center during a 6-1, 6-3 fourth-round win over Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko on Sunday that sent the American player to the quarterfinals at the All England Club for the first time.
“That was great. … I came out playing really well, exactly how I wanted to play, and I was just trying to ride that momentum as well as I could,” Pegula said in a courtside interview after becoming only the fifth American woman in the past 25 years to reach the last eight at all four majors.
The fourth-seeded Pegula will next try to record her first Grand Slam quarterfinal win when she faces Marketa Vondrousova. Pegula is 0-5 in major quarterfinals in her career, with only three women having more losses in that round without a win.
Mirra Andreeva, 16, the latest teen sensation in tennis, also won Sunday as she continued her strong debut at the All England Club, earning a spot in the fourth round with a 6-2, 7-5 victory over 22nd-seeded Anastasia Potapova on No. 3 Court.
Andreeva is the youngest player since Coco Gauff in 2019 to reach the women’s fourth round at Wimbledon. She reached the third round at this year’s French Open in her first major tournament.
“I came back from 1-4, so of course I feel great,” Andreeva said on court before explaining how she keeps her cool. “Today, honestly, even if I wanted to show some emotions, I honestly, I couldn’t because I was out of breath almost every point. I really couldn’t show any emotions.”
They came out after, though, when Andreeva sat in her chair and pulled her purple Wimbledon towel up over her face for a few seconds to regain her composure. She will next face No. 25 Madison Keys for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Tsurenko also showed her emotions during Sunday’s loss, slapping her thighs and talking animatedly into her racket. Pegula took full advantage of her opponent’s woes as she walloped thunderous winners from the baseline to streak into a 5-0 lead in 18 blinding minutes.
Perhaps still feeling the effects of the mammoth effort she put into overcoming Ana Bogdan in the previous round, when she won the longest women’s singles tiebreak (20-18 in the third set) at a Grand Slam in the Open era, Tsurenko could do little to stop Pegula’s charge.
Tsurenko was nearly shut out in the opening set before Pegula missed a set point in the sixth game. That blip allowed Tsurenko to finally register her name on the…
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