NEW YORK — Jessica Pegula pulled off a major upset of Iga Swiatek at the US Open, beating the No. 1-ranked woman 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday night to win a Grand Slam quarterfinal for the first time on her seventh try.
“There have been so many freaking times, and I just kept losing,” Pegula told the crowd. “I know everyone keeps asking me about it, but I was like, ‘I don’t know what else to do. I just need to get there again and, like, win the match.’ So thank God I was able to do it. And finally — finally! — I can say, ‘Semifinalist.'”
Her win guarantees the US Open will feature multiple American men and women in the semifinal round, the first time that has happened since 2003 (Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick; Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer Capriati).
The No. 6-seeded Pegula, a 30-year-old American, has won 14 of her past 15 matches and will make her debut appearance in the semifinals of a Slam on Thursday against unseeded Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
Both Muchova and Pegula have yet to drop a set, the first time that has been done by multiple women at this stage of the tournament since 2014 (there were three that year: Serena Williams, Peng Shuai and Ekaterina Makarova).
“I know she has a lot of experience going deep in Slams,” Pegula said about Muchova, whom she defeated at the Cincinnati Open last month. “I’ll worry about that, maybe, when I wake up in the morning.”
The other women’s match Thursday also will feature an American making her major semifinal debut, No. 13 Emma Navarro, against No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who has won the past two Australian Open titles. Sabalenka lost to Coco Gauff in the 2023 final in New York; Navarro ended Gauff’s title defense in the fourth round.
There are also two Americans in the men’s semifinals, but they’ll face each other: No. 12 Taylor Fritz takes on No. 20 Frances Tiafoe on Friday.
The lopsided nature of Pegula’s win was surprising, but she believed this day would come.
“I knew I could do it. I just had to go out and execute my game and not get frustrated,” she said. “Luckily I felt like I was able to take advantage of some things she wasn’t doing well very early and then was able to kind of ride that momentum throughout the match.”
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.
Pegula repeatedly did…
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